More than meets the eye
by sanity is overrated95
Summary: The special division was what people called them. They solved cases with ease and speed. It was amazing how one of the best of the best never knew his partner's secret until it hit him in the face USxUK AU. Other pairings later.
1. prologue

Wahh~ this is my first hetalia fic and my first fic in a year or so. I'm really nervous because I haven't written for such a long time. This is going to be long so bear with me please! Reviews are appreciated!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the idea and story

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Prologue

To the regular staff on the NYPD they were known as the division that no one knew anything about and no one ever would. They were called the miscellaneous department because of it. However, to Interpol they were known as the Special Division handling cases no one else in any country or police department wanted, 90% of the cases they got were international even though they were stationed in New York. However, they called themselves Team Hetalia, as was the name their boss, Chief Julius Vargas, had on a whim, given them. He said it was a joke between him and Kiku of the gadgetry and intelligence branch of their division (Yes they had branches within their division because they are special.) about Chief Rome's grandsons Feliciano and Lovino Vargas. This name was met with varied reactions and Unit 3 was no exception. The fair-skinned Englishman face palmed and the tanned American laughed and then continued to proclaim it would be better to call themselves the Hero division which was met with a whack on the head by the Englishman. This was three weeks ago and nothing had changed the fairly peaceful atmosphere. Not even the Chief and his Vice-chief could have predicted the turnout of the case sitting in a manila envelop on Arthur Kirkland's desk.

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Okay, thats been fixed now, a few minor changes have also been made to make the story flow a bit better.


	2. Chapter 1

**Yay! Chapter one is finished! Thank you my first reviewer I give you cookies! Hopefully everyone knows by now the Julius Vargas is Rome, Charles Beilschmidt is Germania, and ****Michelle is Seychelles. **

**I really don't know British english so Arthur is most likely going to speak a mangled and americanized version of British english *bows in apology* If someone is willing to help ****me there I'd ****appreciated it! **

**Still don't own Hetalia , Tch.**

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Chapter One

"Alfred I told you already there are no such things as ghosts," huffed Arthur Kirkland while walking down the hallways towards the Special Division's wing. He was lying through his teeth when he said that because he already knew there was such thing. After all he had, from a young age, a gift for the supernatural and magic but he wasn't going to let anyone know about that especially Alfred who was deathly afraid of ghosts, zombies, horror movies, etc. yet still didn't believe in magic. "It's all just rubbish made up by writers and filmmakers designed to make you scared," He turned around to scowl at the blue-eyed blond who was nervously clinging to his jacket.

"B- but I'm not scared Artie! I'm just holding on to you so you won't be! Yeah that's it; heroes don't get scared! Especially of ghosts that aren't real!" rambled Alfred F. Jones work partner of Arthur Kirkland both making up unit 3 of the Special Division. He looked around anxiously, silently hoping Arthur wouldn't notice his habit of rambling when nervous. Arthur noticed and decided that it was much too early in the morning to deal with Alfred after a night of horror movies. He sighed, turned back around and walked towards his desk. "H-hey! Don't just leave me!" Alfred quickly ran after Arthur and almost crashed into the slightly older man when he had abruptly stopped a few yards away from his desk. "Artie? What's wrong?" Alfred followed Arthur's gaze to a manila envelope sitting innocently on the desk. "What's wrong with the en-," he never got to finish because at that moment Arthur quickly snatched the envelope and quickly strode with it towards Chief Vargas' office. While Alfred didn't notice it, Arthur took great care to hide the words written on the envelope.

"Assignment for England"

_How dare he? _Thought Arthur Kirkland as he impatiently waited for someone to let him into the Chief's office. Though he very much wanted to break down the door that would attract far too much attention and that would be too risky since he didn't want more people than need to know. _I even explicitly told him not to use that name! _At that moment the Vice-chief, Charles Beilschmidt, opened the door letting in the livid man. As soon as he entered however, he had immediately calmed down and his angry expression was replaced with one of uncertainty. There was a stifling feeling in the room. Chief Vargas swiveled around to face Arthur turning away from the tanned girl he was talking to.

"Ah, Mr. Kirkland, I see you've found your new assignment. It seems you haven't taken a look at it yet," said the man. He was tall, built, and looked much younger than one would expect to have two grandsons. "Please read the information inside quickly," he smiled at the blond in a somewhat unnerving fashion. Arthur silently pulled out the documents and scanned the pages, emerald eyes becoming increasingly larger with every second.

"S-Sir! You told me I would never have to be "England" again! Just what the bloody hell are you trying to make me do!" the British man practically shouted eyes glowing with disbelief, anger, and fear.

"You know very well what you're being told to do. We didn't want to do this either but you are the best for this case. I'm sorry but it is of utmost importance. Do not worry though, no one will be informed of your assignment not even your partner Alfred," spoke Charles Beilschmidt his piercing blue eyes staring straight into Arthur's green ones. Chief Vargas was silent. "Michelle," said girl gave a small smile, "will be temporarily filling in for you, now if you please, we have prepared the necessary materials we would like you to start right away," the stoic German waved his hand towards the door to the closet. Arthur mentally noted that he wasn't even given a chance to decide whether he would take the mission or not. As he opened the closet and eyed the clothes most of which were made of black leather he felt a wave of memories wash over him.

"I guess I won't ever escape "England," huh?" He gathered everything in there into a large bag that was prepared and made his way out to begin his assignment. The girl, Michelle went with him and left the two older men behind.

"I really don't understand what you're thinking sometimes," sighed Charles. He gave Julius a look of exasperation and continued to talk, "There is no way for you to be able to pull this off and keep your promise to him at the same time." At this the Italian broke his far away look.

"Don't worry about it," smiled the brunet man, "No one will suspect a thing all he has to do is follow the instructions, not even his own partner will have a clue what he's doing!" The Vice-Captain sighed again. He suddenly had a terrible feeling about this.

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**Yay cliffhangers! *is shot by friend who hates them***

**Once again, this has been edited but the editing doesn't affect the storyline**


	3. Chapter 2

**Thanks to Mochirisu for pointing out the wierd glitch in the chapters! It should all be fixed by now! I've also edited a few sentence structure things in the previous chapters so the story flows a little better. Thanks again to SeychellesxUK for your lovely reviews**

**Here's some info on units and branches within the division. I know this is probably not anything like an actual police force but hey, first of all it's run by Rome, second of all they are a special group, and third of all i'm too lazy to tweak everything so it fits correctly. And just to clarify, just because they are partners does not indicate a pairing. I went mostly with who would work well as a team and so forth.**

**Unit 1: Francis Bonnefoy, Gilbert Beilschmidt  
Unit 2: Yao Wang, Heracles Karpusi  
Unit 3: Alfred F. Jones, Arthur Kirkland  
Unit 4: Ludwig Beilschmidt, Feliciano Vargas  
Unit 5: Antonio Carriedo, Lovino Vargas  
Unit 6: Kiku Honda, Im Young Soo  
Unit 7: Eduard Von Brock, Elizaveta Hedervary  
Unit 8: Ivan Braginski, Natalia Braginski**

**Units 6 and 7 make up the gadetry and intelligence branch. Everyone else works on cases. Unit 8 usually deals with more pyschological cases.**

**Since more characters are showing up now, an apology in advance for any ooc-ness**

**Reviewing is the only way for my writing to get better!**

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Chapter two

Alfred F. Jones loved his job. He loved being a hero and saving the world every day from the evils of villains that came his way even if no one seemed to appreciate it. It never stopped him. But probably most of all he loved working with his partner. Sure they bickered and just about never seemed to get along, but Alfred really liked his partner, not that he would ever admit that to Arthur. Alfred wasn't even really aware of how he really even felt about the man. He knew he was grateful to him for saving him a couple of times in their past cases (he never thought that anyone could defeat a mob with a butter knife). He also knew that despite their constant arguing they were the most awesome unit in all of Team Hetalia (despite what Gilbert, one of Vice-Captain Charles' grandsons would say, "I am much more awesome than you un-awesome people!"). They would finish cases efficiently and without fail. Though Alfred was only nineteen and Arthur only twenty-three they were both extremely skilled and had all the factors needed to make a decent team. But what Alfred knew best of all was that no matter what, he would probably never be able to work with anyone else as well as he did with Arthur and that Arthur would always be there for him. So when this girl named Michelle Seychelles told him that she would be temporarily his new partner because Arthur had to see his dying relatives Alfred became somewhat confused.

"Wait what did you say?"

"I will be your new partner for a little while, pleased to work with you Mr. Jones," repeated the tanned girl.

"Yeah, sure…" Alfred trailed off not really sure of how to feel. He was angry with Arthur for not telling him goodbye personally but another giant glob of emotions was mixed into this, mainly hurt and confusion and could be clearly detected on his face. Michelle smiled to herself sure that there would be no harm done in telling Alfred that Arthur was currently waiting for his ride to the airport.

"You know, he should be outside right now you can probably catch him if you hurry. Alfred immediately brightened and flashed her his infamous 100 mega-watt grin.

"Thanks! And call me Alfred!" and he dashed off.

Michelle giggled and then inwardly hoped that this would not somehow interfere with whatever was discussed in the room. She was instructed to wear earplugs that were put in and being tested just as Mr. Kirkland came into the room (why the Chief didn't just tell her to leave the room she decided just to chalk it up with his eccentricities). They had stayed in for the entire duration of the conversation and she could only guess what had made the man become that distressed. She continued to ponder never noticing the lecherous presence a small distance behind her.

Alfred looked around at the parking lot searching for messy blond hair and bushy dark eyebrows. When he spotted them he called out, "Hey Artie!" he waved.

"Don't call me that you git!" snapped the man waiting next to the street. He was somewhat anxious now Alfred was here and quickly glanced towards the street trying to catch sight of his ride.

"Ha-ha sure whatever," waved Alfred as he moved closer to the now flustered man. "So, why didn't you tell me that you were leaving?" His expression was somewhat hurt. Arthur felt his chest tighten with guilt.

"I'm sorry Alfred, it was very sudden and I just received the news. I'll be back soon so be patient won't you?" Arthur responded with a soft smile. He was repeating the excuse made for him he had read in the documents and it only helped increase his guilty conscience to have to lie to Alfred.

"Fine, call me ok?" Came the response from the American. At that exact moment a black Porsche pulled up in front of Arthur. Two intimidating men sat in the front, one had long silver hair and the other was large and muscular.

"Time to get going Mr. Kirkland," said one of them. It was hard to tell which since their jackets shrouded most of their faces.

"Well then Alfred, I'll be off now." Arthur climbed into the vehicle and it drove away. Alfred watched it as it became smaller and smaller along the street.

It was going to be a long few weeks for him that was sure.

As he re-entered the workplace he met the sight of Francis Bonnefoy, part of Unit 1, and partner of Gilbert Beilschmidt the more obnoxious grandson of Vice-Chief Beilschimdt, making a move on Michelle.

"Ma chérie, your beauty captivated me at first glance, let me introduce myself, my name is Francis Bonnefoy, call me Francis," Francis pulled a rose from who-knows-where and handed it to the blushing and surprised girl.

"Francis, what are you doing?" Inquired Alfred who actually already knew the answer, wishing he didn't.

"I was just getting to know this lovely lady. I've never seen her around here before," at this the girl in question snapped out of her daze and realized she had not introduced herself to this (very handsome) man.

"S-sorry for not introducing myself, my name is Michelle Seychelles and I was just hired as an assistant few days ago. I'm temporarily filling in for Mr. Kirkland as Mr. Jones' partner," she quickly said while mentally slapping herself for daydreaming the very first day. After she finished she noticed Francis's change in expression. Alfred does too.

"Arthur is on a leave of absence? Why?" The Frenchman's face changed from playful to serious in a heartbeat.

"He told me his relatives were really sick or something so he had to go pay them one last visit or something," Alfred responded lightheartedly.

"That's odd… I remembered he cut all ties with his family…"muttered Francis to himself

"What was that?" Alfred only barely heard the man and wasn't sure what was said.

"No, nothing, I need to talk to the Chief now, Au revoir!" Francis was wearing a light expression again. He strode off towards the closed door down the hall. Meanwhile Michelle processed all of the information. Yes, ill relatives were very likely to cause that kind of distress. It made sense why Mr. Kirkland behaved that way. She only wished she could have heard what Francis said, it seemed important.

Alfred was also wondering what Francis had said. It didn't seem like nothing. Out of everyone in the division Francis had known Arthur the longest. It was because of him that Arthur had joined in the first place. Alfred ignored what felt like stabs of envy to focus on the current situation. Something seemed very off, almost like there was a big secret no one should know. He decided he needed to investigate when at that moment Francis returned to the room with a stony face obviously displeased about something. Alfred watched him return to his desk, pull out and pen and paper, and begin to write furiously. Yes, something was up.

"Big assignment involving everyone, so listen up!" Came a booming voice from the doorway that was recognized as the Chief's. Everyone stopped what he or she was doing to listen, if the case had to involve everyone it had to be extremely important. Chief Julius began to take pictures, notes and other things from a large folder, "A large syndicate known as ALICE has been making quite a lot of trouble for law enforcement all over the world. Their leader's identity is currently unknown but that's being checked into right now. They have been distributing some kind of strange new drug that causes a coma like after a single dosage of one milliliter. Three dosages will mean death. The drug has found its way into foods and other drugs and has the potential to be leaked the water supply. There have also been some reports of human trafficking," by now the table was filled with so many reports and samples stuff was beginning to fall. "Units 6 and 7, I want you to take a look at the samples of the drug and try to find some sort of antidote," the gadgetry and intelligence branch immediately set off to do their assigned task. "The rest of you will be investigating. We don't have any leads yet on their whereabouts or where they are heading but we have people on that right now." Chief Vargas was now sweating. He was lying about the last part, they knew the whereabouts of some of the lesser members of the syndicate but keeping that secret was critical to making his plan work.

"Whoa, wait a minute, what can we find out that we don't already know with no leads?" asked a somewhat surprised Alfred. This was the first time he had felt something very strange about the case. It didn't sit well with him.

"I was going to answer that," Julius said, "We will most likely be steadily getting more information within the next few weeks. For now, I want each of the units to go to locations where the drug was found and see if you can find any sort of pattern or clue that the local law enforcement didn't catch. As of right now no one knows anything about the syndicate with the exception of their name." _And the information of a few members_ he added in his mind. "Hop to it all of you," With that the man left.

"Does this seem somewhat strange to anyone else aru?" the silence was broken by Yao Wang of Unit 2. Francis made his way to the door.

"Yes, there most likely is something odd going on," quipped the Frenchman, "Let me tell you though, I'm pretty sure this is something that is just out of our depth," with that the man cast a glance at everyone, lingering a bit on Alfred as if trying to say something, and left the room.

"I guess we'll just have to do what the boss says, da?" Ivan Braginski of Unit 8 spoke in his childish voice. Everyone went and collected a few sheets of paper lying on the table and got off to work. There was still the unsettling feeling in the room that not even the ever-smiling Russian could ignore. Oh yes, things were going to get interesting.

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**things are finally starting to move forward! Yay! oh, and Arthur won't be making much of an appearence for a while the way i've got it planned but that is subject to change**


	4. Chapter 3

**Thank you so much to the person who told me about this mistake, here's the actual chapter three. Sorry about that**

**YAY chapter 3! did you notice the reference I put in the previous chapter, it's for another series i love dearly, see if you can guess what it is! By the way am I supposed to respond to reviews? I'm really new at this and am not really sure if I am.**

**Disclaimer: ...Do I really have to say it again?**

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**Chapter 3**

"Come on guys you're all so slow!" shouted a gleeful Alfred as he practically ran down the sidewalk in front of the jetlagged group.

"Shut the fuck up, Awesome-me is not slow, you're just too damn fast!" retorted and irritated Gilbert as he trudged on.

"Mon ami, why is it that you never seem to run out of energy?" sighed Francis, he had been stressed out since the discussion with Chief Vargas and jet lag was not helping at all. Michelle, who was walking next to him, pitied the man, she hadn't known him for very long but she could tell there was something bothering him.

"HAHAHAHA, HEROES don't get jet lag!" proclaimed Alfred striking a heroic pose. He suddenly felt a pang; normally this would be when Arthur would start scolding him and calling him a git. He shook the thoughts out of his head. _Dammit, you don't miss that grumpy old man, you can finally breathe now that he's gone, pull it together already! _But Alfred knew he was lying to himself, he just didn't want to admit it. Francis sighed and pulled out a slip of paper from his pocket.

"I believe we've arrived at the location." The group looked at the building a few yards in front of them. It was old, covered in graffiti, sealed off and there were officers from the area surrounding it. From the uniforms one could tell they were LAPD. As the group approached the closed off building some officers noticed them.

"Hey! This area is off-limits to civilians!" Called out one of them. He was short and had light blond hair, from the accent they guessed he was from Finland.

"Don't worry we have clearance," responded Michelle.

"Really?" came another voice, this one was from a tall and very intimidating looking Swede. Michelle instantly cowered clinging to Francis much to his delight.

"Of Course we do!" exclaimed Alfred completely unfazed by man and instantly pulled out a clearance issued to them from Chief Vargas. "The HEROES have come!" everyone except the Finnish man and the Swede groaned. The short blond inspected the paper carefully before responding,

"Oh! So you are the specialists that we've been told about. My name is Tino Vainamoinen and my partner here is Berwald Oxenstierna. We've been assigned to help you with whatever it is you need." Francis suddenly took the shorter man's hand and seductively whispered,

"Oh I'm sure you can help me in so many-," He was cut off by Berwald who seemed to suddenly gain an even darker aura and he clutched the Finnish man possessively,

"Don't touch my wife," this caused the currently being hugged man to blush and protest,

"I told you I'm not your wife Berwald!" Everyone ignored this and backed away a few steps from the two even the ever-oblivious Alfred felt uneasy.

After a little while of struggling and scolding on Tino's part, some grunting on Berwald's, and some apologizing from Francis, the group set off into the taped off building. It was a wreck on the inside, turned over chairs and tables along with unmade beds and things scattered all over the floor. Tino began to talk,

"This was the location of the first outbreak of the drug. It was passed somehow to a small local drug gang and was then distributed to civilians through trade. We managed to trace it to the drug gang's headquarters, which is here. So far there are five people dead from the drugs including the gang leaders and dozens in comas or rehab from its effects. We've scoured the entire place but we still have no idea where the drugs came from." Alfred looked around the room seething on the inside, _how could people make something that kills so many people without guilt? This is outrageous! _As he walked around the room looking for any information regarding ALICE Syndicate soon he noticed that there didn't seem to be a single trace of the drugs or any useful information anywhere. While searching along the floorboards he suddenly felt a drip of water, fall on his arm. He looked up and saw nothing.

"Is there a leak in here Tino?" he asked while scanning the ceiling,

"No, I don't think there is, it isn't raining out and just about all of the pipes run through the floor not the roof. Did you feel something?" Alfred's eyes landed on a thin line running along the corner of the ceiling above where he was standing, without a word he grabbed a few chairs and stacked them upon each other on a table under the corner

"Mon dieu! Alfred what are you doing?" asked Francis while walking over to the man who was now on top of the stack of chairs and desks and pushing against the ceiling.

"I think there's something here, I felt something drip on me and it probably wasn't just a leak." With a grunt Alfred revealed an opening in the ceiling and clambered up into it.

"Hold on, we're getting a ladder," shouted Michelle as she watched Berwald and Tino rush off to find one. Gilbert peered up at the hole and yelled,

"Hey, Hamburger-fattie! What do you see up there?" Alfred didn't even notice the insult; he was too shocked by the contents that were hidden in the ceiling. In the small area there was at least 20 gallons of the drug all stored in small one-milliliter tubes labeled carefully with the name of the contents.

"Gilbert, I found more samples of the drug, and the name of it,"

"Wait, what? You mean there's a whole stash up there? What the hell is that stuff anyways?"

"It's called Wonderland, and I think Kiku and the gang are going to have to find a cure and fast if every group that has the drug has so much of it."

"Didn't the Boss say that they couldn't find many samples of it before we left though?" Giber watched Alfred who was now climbing down the procured ladder with his discovery in hand.

"Apparently we just weren't looking hard enough," in a few minutes all of the drugs had been extracted from their hiding place and were now on the floor. Everyone got the feeling that this was a group who didn't care about the well being of anyone and were instantly sickened at the thought. Michelle was being comforted by Francis who, for once, did not look the least bit perverted.

"Thanks for helping out you guys, have a safe trip back okay?" said Tino as he walked the two special units to the plane. They were carrying samples of the drugs and photos of the building along with more information about the gang that resided there. Tino had a nagging feeling. He was specifically ordered not to ask about the outsiders' identities but he couldn't help but be curious, "Who are you guys anyways…?" everyone stopped and stared at him, Berwald was also surprised by his outburst, slowly the four sort- of-Interpol agents became less tense and smiled.

"Mon ami, we're nobody to anybody,"

"But we're are too AWESOME not to be noticed by everyone!"

"We're HEROES in disguise!"

This caused the other three to gape at them, Michelle ended up giggling; she knew what they meant. Tino also ended up chuckling; this was definitely a strange bunch, and he had a hunch that he wasn't going to be able to get any kind of answer that made sense out of them. Berwald was just confused.

"Come on Berwald," piped the chuckling man, "Lets go back," He pulled the man by the arm and began to leave after waving goodbye to the group that was now getting into an airplane. He absentmindedly wondered what they would be having for dinner after walking off.

Alfred and the others made their way into the office where they found about half of the other units looking over new information gathered from the locations. Alfred scanned the room and noticed that his wasn't the only group that found more stashes of drugs. All over the tables were little vials each being carefully inspected by Im Yong Soo and Kiku. Alfred put their stash on an empty table (even though the stash was heavy Alfred was known for his superhuman strength and could carry it with ease).

"Kiku, we've got more for you," said Alfred to Kiku while pitying the man, he looked like he hadn't slept for a while.

"Ah, thank you Alfred, you may go now," said the Japanese man returning to his work. Alfred smiled; _he's just like Arthur, such a work-a-holic. _He returned to where many other people were standing, various pieces of information from different locations were scattered along tables, desks, the wall, and the floor, everything was being organized by Elizaveta and Eduard. There were cases of drug breakouts from everywhere, The Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia; everywhere had at least one breakout of the drug.

"Don't touch anything right now Alfred, we have to put all the information into the computer first and then you can start doing whatever with them, got it?" quipped Elizaveta without even looking up from the piles of papers. Alfred nodded and stepped back to wait with the rest of the units who were waiting. Michelle and Francis were nowhere to be seen he noted. Then he shivered. _Man that player works fast_ slid through his thoughts. He decided to grab a cup of coffee while he waited. His day had been fairly gloomy due to the air of tension from the case, and he really needed his caffeine if he was going to be able to make it through this kind of thing everyday for the next week. At that moment his phone vibrated. _It's from Arthur_ he noticed as he flipped the phone open.

"Hey old man! How's it going?" greeted Alfred with a grin, which got wider as he heard the Englishman sputter on the other end.

"What the hell Alfred? Do you have any manners at all?

"Ha ha ha sorry Artie, I'm just excited is all," lied Alfred

"Don't call me that you git, how many times must I tell you that, and what is it that makes you so excited?"

"We have a new case, and it's pretty interesting,"

"What makes it so interesting?"

"We have about no information at all!" he could hear the man on the other end face-palm.

"Only you would find that a good thing idiot,"

"Of course, it's a mystery that I will heroically solve!" burst out Alfred pumping his fist into the air. On the other end of the line Arthur smiled fondly. He knew Alfred was probably putting up a brave front right now.

"Well, take care of yourself, I don't want you getting hurt or anything alright?" Alfred blushed at the open honesty and affection Arthur was showing him _why am I blushing? It's not like I like the old man!_

"S-sure you too," Alfred cursed his stuttering and hoped Arthur wouldn't notice. He didn't.

"I have to go now Alfred, my ride is here, good-bye." And he hung up the phone. Alfred stared at his cell phone and smiled. It was amazing how Arthur could brighten his day.

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**Well, there you have it, My updating is going to be kind of wierd for a while now due to school so please bear with me. Oh and since the story is getting rolling now can anyone guess what Arthur is doing and who "England" is? You probably won't be able to guess the answer for a while but I'll be dropping clues for you. Whoever can get it gets a special prize that i need to figure out what it will be. ahahaha...**

**Anyways, Review please, any kind is wonderful even if it's just flames!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Hello there all of you! I got this done pretty fast, why you ask? because I typed about half of this chapter before chapter 3. Haha, *mentally slaps herself* anyways kinda a filler chapter. Some warning to you i should have put in a long time ago: bad grammer, bad language (in both senses of the words), and some other stuff to watch out for.**

**Review please! I lose all motivation if i don't know if you like it or not! and once again the quesition i posed to you in the last chapter still applies**

**Disclaimer: Don't own hetalia, or the phone number, or anything else really.**

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**Chapter 4**

Freshly showered and in sweatpants and a t-shirt, Alfred flopped onto his couch. It had been three weeks of continuously working on the ALICE case and Alfred was tired of not getting anywhere. Usually normal cases done by a single unit would have been done in a quarter of the time and if the entire team worked on it sometimes it took only one day to close. They weren't the special division for nothing; everyone there was an elite and just about everyone was handpicked from their original law enforcement jobs in their respective countries. Not really making any progress so far had begun to frustrate everyone. Alfred checked his phone for messages, there were none. Ever since the Brit had left Alfred would call him continuously or email him. Arthur would always pick up or at least call back and reply to his emails. However, starting a little less than two weeks back he stopped. Alfred had virtually lost all contact with Arthur. It was also around that time that more and more information started to come in so Alfred, thankfully, hadn't had much time to dwell on it as he and Michelle tried to piece bits and pieces together along with everyone else. When he first noticed the change he dismissed it as Arthur being busy trying to deal with sick relatives but after a while, he began to worry.

Alfred slowly got up and reached for his laptop. He composed another email to Arthur asking why he wasn't replying and sent it. It was the third one this week and it was only Monday. He looked through his inbox, while running his hands through his dirty-blond hair. There was an email from Chief Vargas. He wanted everyone to get to the office pronto. Less than a second later he got a text message saying the exact same thing. Alfred stared at the screen of the phone, looked back at the computer than back at the phone, he was intrigued by the usually very laid back man's urgency. He quickly got his beloved bomber jacket and ran out the door not bothering to change his clothes.

_What could be so important he would go so far to both email and text us to be here now? It's fucking one in the morning! _Was what was going through Alfred's mind as he bolted through the office door. He was met with his co-workers in various forms of dress ranging from pajamas to clothes you would go partying in, as was the case with Gilbert, Francis, and Antonio. All of them were looking irritated and tired. The man at the center of the crowd was Chief Julius. He seemed to have been discussing something with Vice-Chief Beilschmidt until he noticed Alfred's presence in the room.

"I see we're all here now." Julius Vargas took a remote from somewhere and clicked a button. All of the sudden a title page of a slideshow was projected onto the back wall. Charles turned off the lights so everyone could see, "I have great news everyone," Chief Vargas spoke in a monotonous voice devoid of any emotion that didn't match his words at all, "We have found the leaders of the ALICE Syndicate," this statement was met with surprised gasps and murmurs of curiosity.

"So who is the bastard?" questioned Lovino Vargas of Unit 5. Chief Vargas smiled tiredly at his older grandson and pointed to the new slide that appeared.

"This man is Rutilus R. Regis and is both the founder and leader of ALICE Syndicate," There were only a single blurry and unfocused image that didn't even show his face. It could only be seen that he was tall, strong, and slightly round along the waist most likely due to age which was mid 40's as was displayed next to the pictures. Chief Vargas began to gesture to the image while speaking to the crowd, "As you can tell beside his name and likely age range there is nothing about him that we know. So far Charles has been running his name through various files and nothing has really come up. I want all of you to get started finding a man with his physical description with a dubious past. We most likely won't find him from his name," _since I'm almost positive that's not his real name_, added Julius Vargas in his mind; he shuddered at the nerve of some people.

"How did you find all of this information so quickly?" grunted a somewhat dubious Ludwig. The German had been a bit suspicious for the past few weeks on how fast all the new intelligence was coming in. He wasn't really suspicious of the speed of the updates since he expected them to be swift but the source. So far their own intelligence guys, who were the best in the world had managed to collect next to nothing on the Syndicate and all of the information was from some unknown inside source. He watched as the Italian man in front donned a knowing smile.

"Like I have said before, we have a man who has infiltrated the inside," answered the brunet, "There are many, ah- methods, I guess we could call it that, to extract information from people. This person is the best for getting the job done. Sadly as much as you might want to know who this man is, I can't tell you, after all, I'm not one to break promises." Julius looked at the blond straight in the eyes. Ludwig was slightly taken aback at the all-knowing tone of voice that was just used towards him and realized that he wasn't going to get any other kind of answer and just nodded curtly. While contemplating what was just said he noticed his partner, Feliciano was now leaning against him. Apparently he was completely worn out and was now sleeping against the German, causing said man to blush a bright scarlet. Lovino, who would usually start swearing at Ludwig right about now for "taking advantage" of his little brother was too tired and could barely keep his eyes open. When Alfred looked around the room just about everyone was tired with the exception of a few people. Alfred yawned; he was worn out to from the recent events as well and really wished he could go to bed.

"Man, Arthur is really lucky not to have to work on this case," he groaned loudly. Since he was rubbing at his eyes he didn't catch Chief Vargas stiffen and make a strange strangled sounding cough. Francis and Charles Beilschmidt however, did. The former smirked and the latter grew stone faced. He walked quickly in front of Julius, who now had his head down and shouted in a stern voice,

"You're all dismissed, I want all of you to start searching starting the first thing in the morning. GO HOME NOW." Needless to say everyone scrambled without questioning the strangeness of it all, the Vice-Chief was far too scary to question. When the coast was clear Julius Vargas burst out laughing,

"Th-, That boy," he gasped between guffaws, "he really has no idea how hilariously ironic that was, ahh, I haven't laughed like that for a while." The man wiped tears from his eyes now panting slightly from laughing so hard, the German next to him wasn't so amused.

"You do understand you almost gave away everything right? He is counting on you to keep that promise." The Italian man gave the German man an amused look.

"Lighten up will you? Don't worry about it, no one even noticed I was holding back laughter except for you and Francis and both of you already know, well, he just has a pretty good idea of what's going on but technicalities-, so what's all the fuss?" Charles scowled and rubbed his temples; he could feel his headache creep up already,

"Just be careful won't you?"

"I told both you and him already haven't I? I never make promises I can't keep." With that the man walked off leaving the other behind him still worried and exasperated.

Alfred dragged himself into his apartment and threw his keys on the couch after locking the door. Then he half-heartedly made his way towards his bedroom internally debating whether it would be better just to collapse where he was standing and sleep on the floor. After the long trek into his bed he finally clicked off his lights and closed his eyes expecting to just sleep. At that moment he heard his phone vibrate. _Just ignore it, it's probably no one important, probably just Arthur finally deciding he should call back…_ At this thought his eyes snapped open and he reached for his phone to check his inbox. He really wasn't sure why he hoped it was Arthur so badly; he had never felt this way before, then again Arthur never left for so long before. _Absence makes the heart grow fonder huh?_ Alfred thought bitterly. His inbox was now showing on his screen and much to his disappointment the message wasn't from his British partner but from his stepbrother Matthew Williams. After deciding he could read the message later he tossed the phone aside and fell to a sleep filled with dreams of his younger sibling.

_"Mattie!" called out an ecstatic Alfred while sprinting towards the other young man._

_"What is it Al?" whispered the ever soft-spoken Canadian. His mother and Alfred's father had married when the two of them were ten. They had been inseparable ever since partly due to the fact they could have been twins from the way they looked. Alfred stopped in front of his brother and waved a piece of paper in his face._

_"Look I got into the NYPD!" beamed the proud American._

_"EHH? How? You're only seventeen!"_

_"Yeah so? I'm a seventeen-year-old who skipped a grade, went through a year of training, and am going to become the best HERO of all time! Of course they would pick me!" pouted the blue-eyed blond; he had thought his brother would be a little more confident in his skills. The Canadian only shook his head in amusement._

_"You always did say you were going into law enforcement, well good luck then," a small sad smile was tugging at the lavender-eyed boy's lips. His brother Alfred was going to be leaving him, their family, and their small town in Virginia to New York City to fight crime. He couldn't help but feel melancholy. Alfred could read his thoughts._

_"Aw, don't worry about me Mattie! Anyways you should get going too, aren't you going on a date with that Katyusha girl?" Matthew laughed, _

"You always did know me so well Al,"

Beep, beep, beep

Alfred groaned as he smashed his hand on his alarm clock. That was such and nice dream too. He slowly rose to a sitting position sleepily rubbing his eyes. It had been so long since he talked to his younger brother. The last time the two brothers met each other was during Mattie's and Katyusha Braginski's wedding. Alfred shuddered at the memory. His co-worker, Ivan, was the bride's younger brother and had ended up almost intimidating the groom to an early death. In the end Ivan was finally convinced that his sister would truly be her happiest with the man. The happy couple were supposed to be honeymooning somewhere in the Crimean courtesy of Ivan. Alfred decided he should reply to his brother's message and opened it.

* * *

To: Alfred  
From: Mattie

Hey Al, Katyusha and I are back from our honeymoon. How are things with the police force? I won't be able to see you for a while since we have to get settled in but keep in contact eh?

- Matthew

* * *

Alfred grinned; his little bro was back! He quickly texted a reply

* * *

To: Mattie  
From: Alfred

Sup Matt! How was ur trip? Im doing AWESOME! B-ing the HERO is amazing! Ill call u soon k?

THE-AWESOMEST-FREEDOM-HERO-EVER! SIGNING OUT!

* * *

Then Alfred clicked send. He turned his head to check the clock on his nightstand amidst the other piles of junk that was there. He instantly bolted out of his bed not tripping over his sheets and then again over his pajama bottoms at all because heroes didn't do that, no. Still, he was going to be late an after a quick trip through memory lane to how the two bosses stressed urgency he was sure he would release the Vice-Chief's formidable wrath upon him if he showed up more than five minutes late again. After much hurried dressing, showering, brushing teeth, and stopping at McDonalds (but certainly not in that order for that would be silly), he finally made it to the building in a record time of fifteen minutes.

"Have no fear, the HERO is here!" Burst the exuberant blond ignoring the collective groans and face-palms at this comment. He strode to where Michelle was sitting staring at a screen

"How's it going?" he asked leaning forward to see what the girl was doing. The girl jumped at his voice and quickly turned in her seat,

"Good morning Alfred! I'm just running through a few criminal files trying to match our man. So far no luck though." Alfred patted her on the head and grinned reassuringly,

"Don't worry about it! We'll catch him for sure!" with that he head to his computer to begin searching also. Before he sat down he was interrupted by none other than Ivan Braginski.

"Good Morning Alfred, I've heard your brother and my sister have finally come back from their trip," his expression was innocent but his aura was oppressing. Alfred managed to keep his expression bright even though he could practically feel the dark aura surrounding the taller man.

"Yeah, he texted me last night about it," The Russian cocked his head at this.

"You didn't do anything stupid this time da?" Alfred grumbled, at the wedding Alfred had almost let slip to everyone what kind of job he and Ivan really had. After some, ah, _persuasion_, on Ivan's part and quite a bit of convincing lies from Arthur who was also invited the two managed to stop anything big from being leaked out. No outsider could ever know who they really were, not even family. Ever since then Ivan had constantly reminded him of his little blunder.

"I was drunk, okay?"

"Ah true, but comrade Arthur was drunk too and he didn't do anything stupid,"

"….." There was no way Alfred could retort to that. Everyone knew the English man's notorious ability to get drunk. Doing something like getting pissed worse than him was something that would just stick to you forever. An angry Charles intervened before there would be another fight.

"Both of you get back to work!" he shot out, the two reluctantly went back to their jobs. Alfred decided it wouldn't hurt to quickly check his email. There was one new message and it was from Arthur. Alfred's breath hitched as he clicked on it.

* * *

To: FREEDOMHERO_1776  
From: EnglishN.A.R.S

Hello Alfred, call me at (323)-647-0230 tonight at 9:00

-Arthur

* * *

That was all, short and simple but nonetheless mysterious. Alfred quickly wrote a note to himself to call Arthur feeling elated on the inside completely ignoring the nagging feeling that something didn't seem right.

* * *

**If you're wondering if that's a real phone number yes it is, It's also a clue, but please don't dial it, and it's not going to be the exact same place, I'll be changing it so it fits into the story. Alfred might or might not figure it out, we'll see. By the way England's email username "EnglishN.A.R.S" stands for something that might be pretty hard to figure out, i'll tell you next chapter. Clue is "Pirate!"**

**P.S. the reference i made in chapter two was to the syndicate in Detective Conan or Case Closed. Gin, Vodka, and Gin's Posche made a cameo appearance. ^_^**


	6. Chapter 5

**hello there everyone! sorry for the wait. School really isn't very good to me. Homework is just horrible. ugh. So anyways heres the next chapter.**

**disclaimer: i don't own a thing**

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Chapter 5

Alfred had left work almost an hour ago; like usual they didn't make much progress. There was still an unbelievably large amount of profiles to go through. But the American wasn't thinking about that right now though, he was instead staring intently at the clock. It was exactly 8:59 p.m. He flipped open his phone and dialed from memory the number Arthur had given him. He pressed the device to his ears straining them to take in every sound.

Dial tone,

Dial tone,

Dial tone,

_Click. _

"Hello?" came a distinctly British accent. Alfred let out the breath he wasn't even aware he was holding.

"Hey Artie," he replied weakly, not hearing his **the **(Arthur wasn't his! Why would he ever think that?)Englishman's voice for so long, for some reason, made Alfred feel very nervous now that he was hearing it.

"Hello Alfred," there was a pause, "I-I'm glad you called," an uncomfortable silence filled both ends of the call.

"Of course I did! It wouldn't be heroic not to!" Alfred heard the man on the other end groan.

"Bloody hell, Alfred! Why must you always blather on about that?" Alfred merely laughed. "Anyways Alfred," Alfred went silent; Arthur was suddenly talking in a very low voice, the tall blond furrowed his eyebrows at this. Was Arthur hiding something? "I just wanted to check up on you," Alfred was somewhat surprised at this, though the self-proclaimed-gentleman called at random before, he had never admit that he was calling because he cared about Alfred, no, _Arthur was too, what was that word again? Right: tsundere._ Thought Alfred only half listening to what Arthur was saying on the other line. "Are you even listening you git?" came an angry shout.

"What?" Alfred jumped from the sudden loudness.

"So you weren't listening," Arthur was back to a low whisper, "I was saying that I might not be back as soon as I had hoped to be so; you'll just have to get along without me a bit longer. You are doing well right?"

"Don't worry about it! I couldn't be better without you breathing down my neck, Michelle such a better partner!" Alfred lied. He wouldn't admit to Arthur that he was missing him and really wanted him back, nope, his pride wouldn't let him.

"…I see," Alfred's breath hitched in his throat, the normally strong-willed man almost sounded hurt. There was a sigh from Arthur, "Well anyways that was really all I had to say—," he was cut off,

"Seriously Artie? You told me to call you this late at some weird number and now you're just going to hang up after checking up on me? I don't need constantly worried about me!" Alfred was getting irritated now, the amounts of stress from the previous weeks added on to his stubborn unwillingness to show weakness to his work partner ended up coming out in those two sentences. _Darn that was not supposed to come out that harsh,_ cringed Alfred reflecting on what he had just said. He prepared himself for angry retorts and loud yelling but they never came.

"…Fine you wanker, I guess I just shouldn't even go through the trouble of trying to check up on you. I hope you and Michelle have fun," clipped a forced sounding voice, as if he was trying very hard to hide the hurt he felt,

"Arthur, wait, I—,"

"Just stop Alfred, I already know you don't need me, just leav-, Fuck—,"

The line went dead.

"Hello? Artie?" Alfred was almost panicking, _what happened?_ He tried to dial the number again, there was nothing, absolutely nothing.

What the hell?

* * *

_Really, what was that? _Alfred was still pondering about the abrupt end to his and Arthur's conversation. He had been thinking about it almost all of last night. He sighed and stared grimly at the coffee in his hand, _If I keep this up I'll definitely need more than just one cup a day. _He quickly pulled into his parking space near the building and walked in. He was greeted with the sight of every single employee there running frantically, not just the Special Division ones but even the regular police were scrambling. Alfred tripped a random stranger and pulled him aside

"What's going on?" the man stared at him like he was an idiot.

"You're part of the weirdo division, you should know better than me!" with this he quickly got up and went back to whatever he was doing before. Alfred was now even more confused. He made his way to his division's section of the building, and was almost instantly bombarded with a sprinting Michelle who looked quite relieved when she saw whom she crashed into.

"There you are Alfred! Chief Vargas asked me to get you since you never answered the calls," Alfred pulled out his cell phone; 18 missed calls, huh, funny; he never noticed it. Michelle was starting to look frantic again and pulled Alfred along with her into the large room. The inside was a mess. Everyone was sifting through papers, glued to a screen, talking (or yelling in some cases) into a phone, or running around trying to be useful like in the case of Feliciano. "Come on Alfred you have to get to work," begged the dark-skinned girl.

"Huh?" was Alfred's well-thought-out reply. Michelle gave him a look one would give to a small child. At that moment Francis came up to the two and began explaining.

"Last night at around 12:00 midnight Chief Julius got a message from our inside man saying we needed to hurry up since he was starting to be suspected by some of the members. The good news we now have a better idea of who the leader is, the new information the insider got us has narrowed it down quite a bit. We now know he's 46 years old, and is an American but spent part of his life in England. We've even managed to get the regular police force to help with finding his identity and location," he paused after this, "…I have a feeling that if we don't do our job fast enough someone we care about is going to die," Alfred thought about this statement a bit.

"Yeah… the drug could effect our family and friends if we don't stop it," Francis gave Alfred an unreadable look,

"Non, that wasn't what I was talking about," before Alfred could ask what he meant they were interrupted by an angry shout,

"WORK, NOW, THE THREE OF YOU!" from Vice Chief Beilschmidt. The trio split. Alfred saw the large stacks of papers that were still un-sifted through. He grabbed a large pile and headed to his desk to begin. Cracking his knuckle he set down and skimmed through the papers; putting aside the ones that were possibilities. All the while unable to shake off the sense of foreboding he had. Something wasn't being told to him and he had a hunch that it had something to do with Arthur and the case. But what could it be? After all, Arthur was on the other side of the ocean right now. Alfred almost began to neglect his task of sorting papers before he caught himself contemplating. What seemed so wrong about everything?

Alfred stretched his sore muscles; sitting down all day was really tiring! He was getting ready to head home since they had actually made significant progress that day. The identity of the ringleader of the group was most likely Scott Dodgson. His great great grandfather moved to America from England sometime after the Second World War and started a family there in Virginia. Scott had always loved England as a child and ended up moving there at the age of 18 after getting a scholarship to Oxford. Strangely he dropped out only two years later saying he had made an amazing discovery and disappeared after that. Six years after he vanished records showed he ended up going back to America but this time New York. The syndicate began to go global no more than a year later.

After the profile and records was presented to everyone, he was unanimously voted the number one suspect. Sadly, they still had not found where he was and Chief Vargas decided to let them all rest up and start early tomorrow. Everyone was glad for the break and headed home at the earliest they had in a few weeks. A blond German watched them leave along with a brunette Italian.

"Are you going to tell them tomorrow?" clipped the former. The latter sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I guess I have to now,"

"You do understand they will all most likely be very angry with you keeping this a secret to them for so long right? They aren't stupid, they'll become suspicious of you and what else you're hiding,"

"If I had told them I knew where the headquarters was from a week ago since "he" had already infiltrated it, the entire team, especially Francis and Alfred, would have opted for immediate infiltration without even going through a thorough investigation."

"I don't believe they would have been that irrational Julius,"

"You know how Francis is like when it comes to "him," and Alfred without Arthur to hold him back is just far too headstrong and brash, and quite a few members of the team are much too easily provoked into taking action" Charles just sighed; he had to agree with the man, it was at times like this that he really questioned his career choice. The Italian man just continued completely oblivious to the other's irritation, "But he really worked fast didn't he? Who knew he could infiltrate a organization like that so thoroughly in less than one week?"

"Well, his skill at his former profession lets him do that without much trouble." Icy blue eyes stared accusingly at caramel ones that broke contact after less than a second.

"I hope he doesn't hate me for this, but, I won't blame him if he does." The man stretched and put on a happy expression, "I guess I should prepare for tomorrow huh?"

* * *

**please review!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Another chapter in which not much gets done. Yeah, i'm not doing a good job on this right now...I'll probably do better soon, as soon as my school life gets a little bit more balanced again.**

**Disclaimer: My name is not Hidekaz Himaruya**

**

* * *

****Chapter 6**

Kiku Honda was a very patient man. He was friends with a boisterous and loud American, a very tsundere Englishman, and countless other strange people. He has always managed to deal with everyone politely. However, it was when dealing with his own failure did his saint-like patience wear thin.

"Why can't I find something that works?" sighed the Japanese man. His friend and co-worker Elizaveta who was also with him inside the lab trying to create an antidote smiled at him.

"Don't punish yourself over it Kiku. It's not your fault," the man calmed down a bit.

"You're right Eliza-chan, I guess I'm just frustrated," before the girl could even respond, an intruder barged into the lab.

"Awesome has arrived!" was shouted and a large frying pan made contact with Gilbert's skull.

"What the hell are you doing here this early? You aren't even supposed to be here until another two hours!"

"Geez, what's wrong with you? Can't take a little awesome?" Kiku restrained her from knocking him unconscious. "Anyways, West told me I should do something useful so I decided to bring you guys a few drinks!"

"Gilbert, we don't need beer right now," gritted the Hungarian through clenched teeth.

"Kesesese, of course you do!" with that he handed both Kiku and Elizaveta a glass of amber liquid. Kiku took a sip to be polite. Almost instantly he felt as if his brain started to work again. He took another, longer sip. This did not taste like any other beer he had before. It also seemed to be doing the opposite of what liquor should do, which was make you drunk.

"Gilbert-san, is there something in this beer?"

"You noticed? Me and West make our own beer and this one your drinking has some sort of plant with it that West found in the backyard. Kiku had a feeling this might be the answer he was looking for.

"May I get some of that plant Gilbert-san?"

"I told Bruder I could be useful! I'll be right back!" and he raced out of the room. Kiku took out vials and test tubes quickly preparing for what could be the experiment that led to an antidote.

"Kiku, what are you doing?" asked Elizaveta slightly confused by the man's actions.

"The drug creates a coma and death by causing the blood to stop flowing to the brain is that correct?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with the plant in Gilbert's beer?"

"When I drank the beer it felt as if I could suddenly think clearer, the other things we tried were all too weak or had bad side effects, maybe this plant will be the answer." Elizaveta just nodded and began setting up. Soon later Gilbert came back with some weird looking green spiky stuff and the duo began their work while Gilbert just watched. Eduard and Im Young Soo walked in on them and were quickly filled in. They both ended up helping out in any way they could. A few minutes before everyone else would get to work they had finished the prototype. It was promptly given to someone to deliver to nearby victims of the drug. Kiku felt elated and the group trudged out to meet their coworkers and announce their progress.

* * *

"Good morning everyone! We have wonderful news to make!" A very disheveled and almost crazed looking Kiku stood in front of the group the next morning. The rest of the intelligence branch was wearing similar looks. "We've found an antidote for the drug!" A few murmurs rippled through the room.

"And awesome me helped!" shouted Gilbert who was also standing with the intelligence branch.

"So where is it?" asked Alfred ignoring Gilbert,

"We've just finished developing the prototype, it's being delivered to nearby victims as we speak, we should know the results in five minutes or so." The whole room of people cheered, two days straight of meaningful progress. Things were looking up. Everyone completely forgot about his or her job in favor of waiting for that fateful phone call. Alfred almost could burst with pride at his friend's accomplishment. He almost forgot about the guilt he was still feeling about his conversation with Arthur the other night. He shook his head; this wasn't the time to be thinking such depressing things! All of the sudden a loud ringing permeated his thoughts. Someone quickly pressed the speaker button.

"Hello?" Kiku nervously greeted the caller, the room waited with baited breath,

"…It was a success! We have two people steadily coming out of their comas, so far there seems to be no side-effects from the antidote, just the regular effects of prolonged comas." A loud cheer erupted form the room. People hugged each other basking in the moment of triumph.

"Arigato, we will deliver more soon," spoke Kiku quickly to the caller and hung up after a hasty goodbye. At that moment Chief Vargas decided to join in.

"I congratulate you all!" boomed his loud voice as everyone's attention went to him. "I have an announcement to make to everyone," He took a deep breath and began to speak.

* * *

There wasn't a single sound in the room. All eyes were boring holes into one Julius Vargas. All of the sudden the room exploded in sound.

"What the Hell man?"

"That was not awesome!"

"What were you thinking?"

"How could you do this?"

"KOLKOLKOL"

"You fucking bastards!"

"ve~, why Jii-chan?"

Were a few of the sudden string of comments that were quickly filling the room. The man everyone's attention was on was merely smiling like nothing was wrong. He took the bombardment of outcries without flinching. A few minutes earlier he had just announced to everyone the location of ALICE headquarters. He also announced that he had known this piece of information for more than a week already. Now all he could do was to wait for the din to die down. The group did quiet down after a period of venting.

"So are what are we going to do now aru?" came Yao's voice somewhere from the crowd. A smirk crept onto the tall Italian man's lips.

"Easy, we plan out an attack as soon as possible," noise began to fill the room again, "first let's take a small break, Francis, could you come with me?" The Frenchman nodded curtly wearing a somber expression and followed the Chief. Alfred noticed the strangeness of it and suddenly remembered how Francis had been acting differently ever since the beginning of the case. He was suddenly reminded of Arthur again. _That's strange, what would he have to do with the case?_ Thought Alfred as he silently followed the two men wondering what it was they were going to talk about.

* * *

**Yeah yeah, I know, sorry for the crappy chapter. By the way I've gotten rid of the anonymous review block that I didn't even know was there before so review please!**

**I promise you the next chapter will be better...**

**...I hope.**


	8. Chapter 7

**...Is it just me or are my chapters getting shorter? Anyways for those of you who still haven't figured the meaning behind the assumed name of the syndicate leader which is Rutilus Rex Regis it translates to Red King from Latin, I hope. Google translator probably isn't the most reliable thing in the world. And the phone number finally makes sense for those who never looked it up. Once again, please don't call them it's not going to be the same place.**

**I'm not going to bother with another disclaimer, I think you guys get it already.**

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Chapter 7

Alfred quietly followed Francis and Chief Vargas to the Chief's office confident in his ninja abilities even though time and time again both his brother Kiku, and Arthur had reminded him that he didn't have those abilities. Luckily the two men entered the room and locked the door behind them without noticing the third man. Alfred crouched near the door and pressed his ear against the dark wooden surface hoping to catch any words that were being said. He concentrated hard and could make out a few traces of muffled sentences before he suddenly crashed onto the floor into Chief Vargas's office.

"Mister Jones, did you need anything?" Alfred lifted his head up and adjusted his glasses, to find that above him stood the menacing figure of Charles Beilschmidt. The American gulped and quickly sprang up to a standing position.

"Hahaha, nope, I was just checking out the awesome door design! Yeah, that's it!" Alfred internally winced at how stupid that sounded, a chibi vaguely resembling Arthur started berating him about thinking ahead in his head. The German man only stared at him. Alfred took this moment to note that the two men he was originally following were also looking at him. While he still could Alfred quickly made his escape. "Well I'll be off now!" and he rushed away. _I'll figure it out soon, a hero will always prevail! _And thus he ran off to go listen outside by the office window

* * *

"So now that Alfred is gone what was it you wanted to talk with me about?" asked the Frenchman who was fairly sure he knew exactly what they would be discussing. Said man smiled and leaned back into his chair.

"You will be sent ahead along with Charles here to retrieve 'England' during the infiltration, the three of us are the only ones who know his secret and I'm sure he would like to keep it that way." Francis slammed his hands on the desk, without lifting his head he spoke in a calm voice,

"So you did make him do that, I knew it even though you never admitted it before. He hates it did you know? Four years ago when I found him just lying there he was both physically and mentally broken. It took months for him not to flinch when anyone touched him. You _Monsieur_ are despicable to make him go through that again." The Italian began to languidly play with his pen.

"You sound almost like you're in love with him Francis, he doesn't need you to worry about him, he can take care of himself now,"

"_Non, _I don't love him, but I do care since he is my friend. I know he can take care of himself perfectly fine but that doesn't mean he's invincible," Chief Vargas turned away from the blond and merely continued,

"Anyways, you and Charles will infiltrate the building a few minutes before the rest of the group, that is all the time I'm giving you to find him, get him out to a safe area, and get rid of any trace of him ever being there even if it means taking down the leader who will most likely be with him. You will be doing most of the work I'm sorry to say. Charles will mostly be keeping anyone from your mission, do you understand?" The Frenchman looked at his boss with a glare of ice.

"_Oui, _I will do my job, but if I find him hurt like that again, I will not forgive you," Julius did not respond and Francis walked out of the room to inform Gilbert that he would have to work with someone else.

* * *

Unknown to the two men was the eavesdropper outside. Alfred had heard the entire thing and was now even more confused. _Who's England? Where is that even anyways? Wait! Didn't Arthur say that he was from England? Is England Arthur then? No way! He's supposed to be at those droopy islands right now! But what if he's not…? _Alfred remembered feeling like something was off when he saw the phone number. Whipping out his cell phone from the pocket of his bomber jacket he checked the number he called Arthur with. He typed the number into the google app on his iphone. When he looked at the results he nearly fell over with surprise. The number was not one for anywhere near the United Kingdom, instead it was for a payphone in a club in downtown Los Angeles. _Why would Artie be in California? Wait! Isn't this club familiar? _Alfred racked his brains to think of where he had heard the name before. His eyes widened, it was near the headquarters for ALICE Syndicate and was the location Chief Vargas said their inside man had first met the leader of the group. As Alfred ran all of these facts through his head the gears started to turn and he suddenly realized something he should have a long time ago: Arthur wasn't in England, he was working on the case as an inside man.

"Shit," groaned Alfred as he collapsed against the wall of the building. All this time Arthur was out there being ten times more heroic than he was and was putting his life in danger while Alfred did nothing. He angrily hit his fist against the wall ignoring the pain that instantly seized his knuckles. It explained so much; all of those looks Francis gave him, the reason why Arthur suddenly hung up on him, everything was crystal clear now. How could he let Arthur do this? Alfred had never felt so crappy in his life. For some reason, he wanted to always protect Arthur just like how Arthur protected him on their various missions together. Alfred had always felt this way from the first time he had met the shorter male who had always given Alfred the urge to hold him and shelter him from the world even though if he tried he would most likely end up being thrown across the room by a very flustered but very angry Arthur. Alfred clenched his phone tightly. _I'm going to be his hero,_ resolved Alfred and he started to make his way back into the building. He was already making plans to tail Francis and Charles during the infiltration, all he needed to do was to figure out how to make Michelle cooperate with him.

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In a certain underground facility somewhere in L.A. was a blond man sitting on a king-sized bed in an equally spacious room. The dim room was filled with knick-knacks of all kinds. The wall facing the bed was filled with glowing monitors showing feeds from various cameras directly over a cluttered desk, two large locked closets, one filled with suits and the other with questionable objects were located to the left of the bed, cold gray chests locked drawers and hefty titanium safes filled the space of the right wall, and an ornate bookshelf that had books ranging from business records to Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland stood proudly in a corner. Pictures of Alice in Wonderland characters and the author were pinned on the ceiling along with a disturbing doll of Alice hanging from the ceiling directly above the bed on a noose. The small male shuddered at the decoration and ran his fingers nervously through his choppy blond hair while tugging on his light blue garment. A soft creak signified the door had been opened and a large man walked in. Emerald eyes landed on the newcomer whose beady eyes raped their target. The man's lips curved into predatory smirk.

"Lets have some fun shall we Alice?" a meek nod came from the blond sitting on the bed as the larger man closed and locked the door.

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**So once again, If you can guess who 'England' is, as in what his profession is, then you get a prize which will be a fic for any pairing of your choice as long as it's not RussiaxAmerica, I'm sorry, I have really nothing against the people who do like it, I just don't really like it.**

**Reviews of any kind are appreciated!**


	9. Chapter 8

**Fwee~ Thanks for all the reviews guys! First of all congratulations to OptimisticMuffins and ImaduckQuaQua for the first two who got it right! Your fics will be up soon! Since the reviews motivated me a whole lot i'm giving you this chapter early, and it's a lot longer than usual! I aplogize in advance for any kind of grammar or other kind of mistakes, like i said before, i don't know how police work nor how evil crime syndicates work**

**anyways, here's chapter eight for you all!**

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Chapter 8

A determined air filled the room as both the Chief and the Vice Chief were explaining how the infiltration was going to take place. They would all go to L.A. and everyone was to take part either in the physical infiltration or in the virtual (as in security and everything computerized) one which Kiku and Eduard were in charge of. He showed the floor plan of the base, which was actually just a warehouse under the guise of belonging to some company that nobody cared about. The main room Scott Dogdson occupied was on the top floor and was also soundproofed along with fireproofed. There had been quite a bit of confusion when Chief Vargas announced that Francis and Charles were to be the ones to find and take down the leader leaving Gilbert to join Alfred and Michelle in Unit 3. This was easily explained with the fact that both of them were two of the most experienced ones on the team and the group quieted once again. Alfred had to admit that the guy could make up a pretty good excuse. Meanwhile he had talked Michelle into believing he was supposed to be their backup (like he would ever do that, heroes aren't backup) and she would have to work with Gilbert alone.

So it was decided, Units 6 and 7 would take care of the virtual infiltration while the rest would split between different entrances to the base. Chief Vargas was going to supervise both infiltrations. Alfred felt determination bubble up inside him as he stepped outside into the evening. He grinned; this was going to be great.

A bystander would never have thought it odd to find people from New York traveling to California; it was a fairly regular occurrence. However, if they knew that about a quarter of the people on the plane were actually from the NYPD heading to California for a case, they would get very confused. It would also be very awkward for said group of people to explain to the bystanders without giving away too much information. So it could be concluded that it was a very good thing no one talked to them on the plane for if someone did it was almost a guarantee that either Gilbert or Alfred would unwittingly lead to the above situation. Sometimes Charles Beilschmidt truly wondered what had possessed Chief Vargas to hire those two, though the Italian man usually seemed carefree and dense he actually cared about and understood what he was doing, but sometimes it was much to hard not to question his choices. As Charles stared out the window of the airplane he could vaguely hear the sounds of Gilbert still complaining about having to join another unit since Francis wasn't going to work with him this one time. The longhaired man rubbed his temples; he really should get some rest.

Two rows behind him sat Alfred and Michelle. He was deep in thought and still couldn't seem to wrap his head around a few things he had overheard in Francis's and the Chief's conversation. _What did Francis mean when he said all that stuff about Artie being hurt and broken? What else don't I know? _Alfred was frustrated with himself. He was still in the dark about so many things even when someone he cared about was in a precarious situation. Wait, why did he care so much about Arthur? Now that he thought about it, it always seemed so right to be with the British man and the mere idea of having something happen to him made Alfred's blood run cold. He was quickly jostled out of his thoughts when Michelle tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey Alfred, may I ask a favor?" Alfred flashed his mega-watt grin,

"Of course! I'm a hero!" the girl smiled weakly,

"Can…can you make sure Francis doesn't get hurt?" well that was unexpected. Why would she ask that?

"Sure I can but why do you care so much about the frog?"

"Frog?"

"Oh, sorry that's just what Artie calls him. I guess he's rubbing off on me," Alfred said sheepishly a light pink dusting his cheeks. Michelle giggled.

"You really love him don't you?" Alfred blushed a bright crimson and began stuttering awkwardly he inwardly laughed at how much he must have resembled Arthur right now.

"Wh-what do ya' mean I l-l-love him? Yeah right!" the girl looked surprised at this,

"You mean you don't love him?"

"Of course not!" the girl merely hummed and turned away with a small knowing smirk on her face. Alfred turned to stare out the window. Man, it felt like his face was burning. But as he calmed down he really began to think about it, was he in love with Arthur? The more Alfred thought about it the more obvious it became. Why else would his heart flutter every time the man smiled at him and why else would he feel empty inside every now and then when he was gone? Fuck, he really was in over his head now.

Alfred stayed silent the rest of the flight. When the plane touched down everyone prepared to leave and prepare for the mission. Alfred checked a slip of paper for his hotel address. He and Michelle were to be staying at some hotel a block or so east of ALICE HQ. Conveniently, Francis and Charles were staying in the same hotel a few floors above him. When the four of them were checking in Alfred quickly stuck a tiny camera to Francis's luggage. It was a prototype model made by Kiku who gave it to Alfred as a gift some months ago. Alfred got his key and entered his room, usually partners would share but since Michelle was a girl they got separate rooms. Well, this made things a lot easier for Alfred who quickly took out his laptop and began checking on Francis as soon as he got settled. The Frenchman was taking a shower judging by the sound of things. He checked the clock, it was 9:00pm; the infiltration was planned for 12:00am. Deciding it would be a bad idea to be too tired he set the clock to wake him up in an hour. He set the laptop aside and let himself be lulled into dream filled sleep.

"_Congratulations Alfred, you are now part of the Special Division," The blond bubbled with excitement. He had always wanted to be a hero and now that he was part of one of the most well kept secret organizations in the world he felt like all his dreams just came true, well maybe not the one about having an endless supply of hamburgers but close enough. The man in front of him suddenly averted his brown eyes to the door where another man entered,_

"_You wanted to see me sir?" asked the man; Alfred noticed he had a British accent. Chief Julius Vargas stood up and walked toward him._

"_Hello Arthur," he gestured at Alfred, "He will be your new partner from now on," surprise quickly appeared on the man's face._

"_What happened to Gabriel?"_

"_He left just yesterday. He said he wanted to go back to Portugal and take over the family business. The green-eyed man nodded in understanding. He turned to face Alfred,_

"_Pleased to meet you then…?"_

"_Alfred, Alfred F. Jones hero extraordinaire! Dude, what's with your eyebrows? They're huge! " Said pair of eyebrows twitched as their owner seethed with annoyance._

"_What the hell? I haven't even known you for five bloody seconds and you go and insult me?"_

"_Haha, sorry man, those eyebrows sure are something though," Julius Vargas who was watching the interaction merely had an amused expression on his face._

A loud beeping woke up the sleeping American. Turning it off with a groan he reached for his glasses to check the time. 10 pm, perfect. He quickly changed clothes and got his weapons and gadgets ready. Pulling his laptop toward him as he hastily ran a comb through his hair to try and tame it, which he mostly succeeded at with the exception of that stubborn gravity-defying flick. On the screen he saw Francis also scurrying around gathering his stuff. A knock at the door beckoned him and when he opened it the figure of Charles Beilschmidt entered the room. He was already prepared and ready to go.

"We need to get in position soon," Francis nodded and left the room. Alfred got up and also left his room. He went next door and knocked on Michelle's door. Almost instantly the girl opened it also prepared and ready to go. She looked somewhat frightened at what she was about to do. After all, this was her first infiltration as one of them. She determinedly walked out the door and past Alfred.

"Lets go then," Alfred followed behind her.

The club they walked into was as crowded as could be. It had surpassed the max capacity a long time ago and most likely wouldn't be able to handle any more people inside. Which was why Alfred was standing outside the door hoping that he didn't look weird. Next to him was a small phone booth. _Could it be…?_ He walked into it and looked at the number etched into the plastic of the phone. Same number as the one Arthur had given him. A sudden wave of guilt swept over him as he remembered what he had said to the other man over the phone. It had been the last time they had talked and Alfred did not want it to be the last thing he ever said to the man. Clenching his fists tightly Alfred resolved to save Arthur. Out of the corner of his eye he suddenly saw both Francis and Charles walk out of the club and towards the warehouse. Alfred quickly followed them. Trying hard to stay unseen Alfred tailed the two men quietly as they approached the building. Francis took out what looked like a high-tech grappling hook; Alfred still didn't understand how you could make a grappling hook high-tech but hey, Kiku and Eduard believed everything was better with a few more circuits. Charles put on a pair of radar and infrared equipped lenses and Francis did the same. Francis then shot the grappling hook in the air so it caught somewhere on the roof. They were entering through a window in the top floor. Alfred watched from behind a dumpster as the pair silently climbed up and into the building. Counting to ten under his breath he waited until it seemed safe enough to follow. He then also donned a special prescription pair of lenses and tucked his regular glasses safely in his pocket. He scrambled up the rope and swung himself into the building. There were already a few unconscious people lying on the floor. Careful not to wake them the blonde ran in hopefully what was the direction Francis and Charles went.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Units were also taking their positions and getting ready for Chief Vargas's order to go. Michelle and Gilbert were to enter from the east side of the building while Ivan and Natalia of Unit 8 were to enter from the west side. The rest of the units save for 6 and 7 were supposed to enter from the main entrance when the guards were distracted. Gilbert looked around for Alfred but couldn't seem to find him.

"Where's the hamburger fatty?" Michelle didn't take her attention off of her earphone that would announce for them to begin.

"He's backing up Francis and Charles,"

"Is that what he told you?"

"Yeah, what of it?" The albino snickered,

"You really believed that? The guy doesn't even comprehend the idea of him being backup. Haven't you noticed his obsession with heroes? He's probably off trying to be one right now," Michelle's eyes widened at this, she hadn't thought of that. She groaned,

"Darn it,"

"Well too late now, just hope he doesn't screw this up," The two were silent once again.

Julius Vargas and Units 6 and 7 were sitting inside a van already hacking into ALICE Syndicate's complex security system. On the many monitors that adorned the inside of the van a video feed from every security camera was displayed. Julius Vargas was watching a particular private feed from his laptop. The camera feeds from the top floor were not to be shown to anyone but him. On his monitor he saw and Charles knock a man unconscious while another was yelling for someone to sound the alarm. _Well too late for that_, the Chief mused; they had already taken down the alarm system. That man was also quickly knocked out by the German man. Francis had charged forward leaving most of the fighting to Charles. Julius was about to change feeds when the two left the perimeters of the camera when he suddenly saw someone else. Alfred F. Jones was tailing behind them. Julius leaned back and sighed, he was probably going to lose two of his oldest and best agents after this all blows over.

Fuck, he had lost them. Alfred had lingered too long in one place to fight with a syndicate member Francis and Charles had overlooked. Now he didn't know where the two were. Deciding to follow his gut he took a left turn to come face to face with a very heated fight scene. Both Francis and Charles had somehow lost most of their weapons and were doing their best with what they had against the well-armed and numerous syndicate members. The two had underestimated how tight the security would be. Charles was the first to notice Alfred's presence,

"Jones, what are you doing here?" shouted the German as he shot someone in the leg.

"I'm being a hero that's what!" The American twisted a man's arm behind his back and fought his way closer to the other two.

"Alfred's here?" came the voice of Francis obviously panicked at the situation. If he saw Arthur then things would get very messy. Alfred glanced sideways and saw a large door. It had the queen of hearts and the king of hearts painted on it. _So that's why there's so much security, it's the boss's room. _

"I'm going in guys, take care of these guys for me 'kay?" both Charles and Francis tried to stop him but were unable to since they were both preoccupied,

"Non, wait Alfred stop!" The blond American burst through the door to find a surprised, tall middle-aged man pinning down a slim scruffy-haired blond who was wearing what was left of a small blue Alice-in-wonderland dress and had the cock of the large man on top of him buried deep inside his ass.

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**Hahahaha the evil cliffhanger is back...it took me forever to do the ending and it still doesn't seem right for some reason.**

**for those who don't know, Gabriel is Portugal and Scott Dogdson is the crime sydicate leader for those who forgot.**

**Reviews of any kind are much loved!**


	10. Chapter 9

**I'm so sorry for the long wait. Life is just hectic lately. For those who are still finding the patience to wait for this I thank you sooo much. I don't blame you if you gave up on me. I also need to plan out the rest of the story so the next few updates may be slow. This is just a bit of a filler chapter again, sorry about that. But don't worry, questions will start to be answered very soon. Just bear with me for a little while please?**

**Disclaimer: hetalia isn't mine sadly**

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Chapter 9

"What the fuck?"

was the first sound to penetrate Alfred's ears after he entered the scene. The man who Alfred then recognized as Scott Dogdson was glaring at him angrily as he cursed,

"Who the hell are you? Where are the guards?"

Alfred didn't comprehend anything that was being yelled at him. All he could do was stand there and stare in disbelief at the third person in the room. His partner, Arthur Kirkland, was blindfolded with a tie and being fucked by the leader of the very syndicate Alfred had been chasing for the past month. As soon as he noticed the man becoming distracted Arthur chose to knee the man on top of him in the head, managing to knock him off of the bed and onto the floor. Alfred was soon snapped out of his shock by the sound of gunshots being fired both at him and at Arthur. Alfred quickly sprang into action and began shooting at the assailants with his own gun while dodging bullets. Arthur, meanwhile, was frantically tearing at his blindfold while taking trying to move out of the line of fire and avoid the man he had kicked a few seconds ago. Sadly, he did not succeed.

"Put your fucking weapons down or I will shoot this little bitch here!"

shouted the livid man. Brown eyes and hair both shaking with rage. In his hand was a small pistol pressing into Arthur Kirkland's temple. The blond was stock still against the weapon careful not to cause anything that would make it go off. This is a bad situation; rang loud and clear inside his mind. He would have to be careful and find some sort of opportunity to escape soon. Everyone else also went still. Alfred gritted his teeth in frustration as he slowly raised his hands. From the corner of eyes he could see Francis and Charles do the same. The members of the Syndicate were now pointing their guns at the three of them. The leader of the pack was grinning maniacally, whispering into his captive's ear.

"You thought you could escape me didn't you pet? Well too bad, your going to be my little toy for a long time won't you? I'll make sure not to treat you too badly."

Alfred seethed with anger at this while watching Arthur trying to squirm away from the voice he was frustrated with himself for being so useless. What kind of hero was he if he couldn't even save the one he loved? The crazed man was now stroking the gun along Arthur's quivering body as he whispered threats into his ear. Alfred was quickly reaching his limit; he couldn't watch anymore of this. Just as he was about to snap, a sudden shout came from out in the hallway. A woman came stumbling into the room.

"Sir! We're under attack!"

Arthur sensed how his captor's movements seemed to stop in shock; he obviously wasn't expecting this. The British man decided to seize the opportunity and shouted a single command into the air hoping that Francis, who Chief Vargas had informed him was definitely coming, would get the message,

"FUSILLE!"

He swiftly elbowed his captor and ducked for cover. Meanwhile Francis had understood exactly what Arthur was trying to get across; he quickly aimed his gun, firing at the leader and hitting his target in the shoulder. The man flailed his arms and hit Arthur's head rather roughly. He internally cursed his bad luck then blacked out. The Red King's subordinates were in shock not entirely sure of what to do. Charles and Alfred took this chance to attack, pretty soon everyone of them were immobile in some way Charles then strode over to the now unconscious from blood-loss Red King and handcuffed him.

"You'll be coming with us,"

Alfred didn't even spare the bleeding man a glance and immediately ran over to Arthur and carefully peeled off the blindfold. He checked for any injuries all the while trying to push away the questions he had churning inside him. Francis pulled open a closet (the one with normal clothing), grabbed an outfit, and tossed it to Alfred who reddened when he realized he was holding a very scantily clad Arthur in his arms. He dressed him as quickly as possible trying to look anywhere else but the pale body. Francis watched him, highly amused.

"Hurry it up Alfred,"

shouted Charles from the doorway, they had to hurry if they didn't want anyone to find them,

"I'll stay here and keep an eye on everyone else after destroying any evidence of Arthur's presence. You two take the leader and Arthur out of here,"

They two men nodded in affirmation. After a brief stare-off over who would carry whom they made their way out of the building. Alfred won and was carrying Arthur princess-style as they ran to the car Francis and Charles had ready beforehand. When everyone was securely inside Alfred looked down at the Englishman. He frowned with worry trying and failing to get the image of him under ALICE's Boss out of his head. The usually strong-willed man had appeared so small and almost insignificant. He shot a murderous glare at the unconscious man next to him in the backseat. How dare he do that to Arthur? Alfred desperately wanted to torture the man for what he did. He wanted to eradicate him from the face of the planet then make sure nothing would ever touch Arthur again. But right now he couldn't do that, he needed to know exactly what happened during those weeks Alfred had thought Arthur was in England. Then he would destroy the villain. He affectionately stroked the Brit's hair as suppressed questions raced through his head. _What aren't you telling me Arthur?_

_

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_

Francis glanced back towards where Alfred was sitting. He smiled when he saw how affectionate he was being towards Arthur. He had gone through a year or so of watching the two build up sexual tension and was glad Alfred finally scaled over the wall called his thickheaded-ness to realize his feelings. Arthur had done that some time ago but never was able to tell Alfred since he was so sure that the other didn't feel the same way towards him. The gears were starting to move.

Francis made a left turn. He frowned. Though he did originally want Alfred to get a clue as to what Arthur was doing on his so called "leave of absence" he did not want him to find out about the part regarding Arthur's past "job" that he was forced to partake in again. There would be lots of explaining to do. And yelling, yes there will also be plenty of shouting most likely from the Brit. If it came down to it there was even the possibility of him quitting his job. The Frenchman vaguely remembered Arthur's old partner Gabriel inviting Arthur to go live in Portugal with him. He was another one of the few people Arthur had known his entire life and told his secrets to. The Portuguese man was more like a brother the Briton's actual brothers who had never felt anything for their younger sibling other than hate and disgust.

Francis sighed as he pulled into the parking space next to his hotel room. He had a feeling his good looks would soon be marred with wrinkles and gray hairs. He got out and checked the surroundings, Eduard already disabled the security cameras beforehand and the coast was clear. He rapped his knuckles against the backseat window. Alfred got out carrying a still unconscious Arthur. The three entered the room and Alfred laid the man down gently on one of the beds. Francis was making his way out again.

"I'll be delivering our other guest to the chief, keep an eye on him but don't do anything dirty!"

Alfred chucked a pen at the Frenchman's head at the last statement. It hit the door instead of its target since he had quickly closed the door. Alfred silently cursed the man's fast reflexes as he retrieved the pen. He sat down beside the sleeping man and gazed at his face wanting dearly to know what kind of dreams he was having.

Alfred woke up wondering when he had fallen asleep. He looked over at the clock, good; he had only slept for thirty minutes or so. The American flipped himself over to face the other occupant of the bed. Arthur was still sleeping and Alfred could see the gentle rise and fall of his chest. Soft pink lips were slightly parted as air flowed in and out. Alfred watched almost in a trance and reached out with his fingers to brush the stray locks of blonde hair from Arthur's forehead. His fingers lingered on the face and they slowly slid towards the mouth and brushed against the lips. Alfred smiled fondly as he watched Arthur sigh and unconsciously move closer to Alfred. Then he realized what he was doing and just about fell out of the bed landing loudly against the floor. Arthur's eyes shot open at the sound. When he noticed his surroundings he relaxed, but when he saw Alfred all the blood in his face drained.

"Hey Iggy, you ok?" Alfred implored gently. Arthur only paled even more. Oh yes, someone was going to die for this.

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**Fusille means shoot in French...I hope, I really don't know french and relied on google, I hope this is accurate please correct me if it isn't. Ummm... just a note, starting next chapter we are going to have Arthur's point of view on the whole thing, at least thats what i planned on, I want to know if you guys want that (since it will answer a lot of questions) or would rather I just keep plowing ahead and drop obscure hints throughout the rest of the chapters. Review and let me know please! Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Wow, I have not updated for a long time. Ugh, I'm just far too busy these days i really wish i could just sit down and type sometimes. Anyways, from this chapter on we'll be seeing Arthur's POV on the events up to this point. A lot of questions will be answered. In the last chapter a reviewer questioned the ethics and how Rome could get away with forcing someone into prostitution. Very good question, Well, this is the original explanation I had, but now that i look at it on paper it seems kinda weak... but I guess thats up to you guys to decide. Err, sorry about the long note. Enjoy! I hope.**

**Disclaimer: i don't even own this computer**

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Chapter 10

He could remember the beginning of the case like it was yesterday. Arthur Kirkland knew from the moment he saw that envelop with that name on it, he was probably going to be dealing with much more than he wanted to handle. When he burst into Julius Vargas' office he knew that he wasn't going to get out of it. It took someone who knew the Italian man's past to be able to discern that subtle gleam in the man's eyes. And Arthur knew him far too well not to.

Before Julius Vargas was on the side of the law, he was at the very opposite end of the spectrum. If he desired something, he would get it, and no one could stop him. In those days the entire Sicilian Mafia was united under his command, and every European based criminal organization had some sort of connection with him and was in some way under his influence. His amber eyes had a constant wicked shine to them as if he was silently laughing at the world. Everyone with a criminal record knew him and even a few of those who didn't had heard of him; he was known as Rome, the greatest empire in the world. That was until a German Inspector came along. Charles Beilschmidt was the first and only person to catch Julius. It took years, but the German man was able to push the man from his throne and the Roman Empire was no more. Now he had reformed, why he did this when he could have easily built his legacy back up no one really knows. But now, staring at Arthur Kirkland was the same look the man had all those years ago just before he was about to "remove another obstacle." The Englishman shivered, he remembered the last time he saw that, a few dozen people had disappeared from the face of the planet.

He looked aside to Charles inquiringly. He didn't have to do anything against his will right? Wrong, Charles was wearing the same expression as Ravis, a friend of Eduard's, when Ivan was in the same room as him. This wasn't going to end well no matter what he did.

"Ah, Mr. Kirkland, I see you've found your new assignment. It seems you haven't taken a look at it yet," the man suddenly spoke, never leaving his eyes. Arthur opened the file and took a look at the contents. A Syndicate named ALICE was spreading a drug that could cause comas and deaths in small doses. He would have to infiltrate the organization as a prostitute. His fears were confirmed,

"S-Sir! You told me I would never have to be "England" again! Just what the bloody hell are you trying to make me do!" There was no possible way he could force him to do this right? He could lose his everything he worked for if he did!

"You know very well what you're being told to do. We didn't want to do this either but you are the best for this case. I'm sorry but it is of utmost importance. Do not worry though, no one will be informed of your assignment, not even your partner Alfred," calmly spoke the German man. Behind the cold word relayed a sympathetic message. That he couldn't do anything about this. Arthur remembered now, Julius Vargas could pull this, because he was a man who wasn't scared at the prospect of losing everything. He could and would build it all back up; there was no stopping him.

Arthur still had half a mind to refuse no matter what kind of consequence it meant later when he spotted a certain someone he hadn't noticed on the list of victims. Peter Kirkland, age 13, currently in a coma due to accidental ingestion of drug. Emerald eyes widened in shock. Out of all his siblings Peter was the only one who was younger and the only one who had treated him with affection. In return Arthur loved the boy with everything he had. He didn't even notice that Charles was still talking, something about the girl who was supposed to fill in for him. He took a look at her having never noticed she was in the room before now, ah, so she was testing out the new noise-canceling earplug; that was reassuring, he didn't want anyone to hear the conversation. Arthur internally laughed at his situation. He wasn't given a choice, and even if he were he would have still chosen this, why? Because his little brother was now involved, and he knew that this was going to be the only way he could truly help him no matter how much the idea disgusted him. He would sacrifice everything for Peter, the only family he had ever loved and ever loved him.

"I guess I won't ever escape "England," huh?" escaped the blonde's lips as he gathered the clothes and supplies from the closet. Reluctant acceptance adorned his features as he became calm in the face of what he would be doing in the next few weeks. He grabbed everything quickly and left.

"I really don't understand what you're thinking sometimes," sighed Charles. He gave Julius a look of exasperation. Even though he couldn't do anything against the man that didn't stop him from voicing his concerns, "There is no way for you to be able to pull this off and keep your promise to him at the same time." The far-away look in the amber eyes was replaced once again with the maniacal glint.

"Don't worry about it," smiled the brunet man coolly, "No one will suspect a thing all he has to do is follow the instructions, not even his own partner will have a clue what he's doing!" The Vice-Captain sighed again; he had dodged the implied question. The German man suddenly had a terrible feeling about this. What are you planning Vargas?

Arthur tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for his ride to come. He would be heading off to California soon and he didn't want anyone to have a chance at asking awkward questions. Especially Alfred, Arthur could feel his cheeks heat up at the mere thought of the tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed, American. Even though the boy (yes, boy, his maturity level was equal to that of a grade-schooler's sometimes) was usually an obnoxious idiot, there was no denying that he had his good traits. And Arthur Kirkland had fallen in love with him, idiocy and all. After a few flustered moments he managed to subdue the redness crawling up his cheeks. Then suddenly,

"Hey Artie!" Speak of the devil, thought the Briton.

"Don't call me that you git!" responded the green-eyed man on reflex. A bit of panic arose. Arthur nervously glanced around for his ride.

"Ha-ha sure whatever," waved Alfred as he moved closer to the now even more flustered man. "So, why didn't you tell me that you were leaving?" His expression looked hurt. Arthur assumed the excuse had been told to him already. He felt his chest tighten with guilt, leave it to Alfred to make this more difficult than it already was.

"I'm sorry Alfred, it was very sudden and I just received the news. I'll be back soon so be patient won't you?" Arthur responded with a soft smile. Lying to Alfred hurt badly, and it took immense willpower not to submit to the pout on the American's face and just stay.

"Fine, call me ok?" Came the response from the American. At that exact moment a black Porsche pulled up in front of Arthur. Two intimidating men sat in the front, one had long silver hair and the other was large and muscular.

"Time to get going Mr. Kirkland," said one of them. It was hard to tell which since their jackets shrouded most of their faces.

"Well then Alfred, I'll be off now." Arthur climbed into the vehicle. He gazed out the rear window to find that Alfred was still there waving.

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_Goodbye Alfred, I'm sorry._

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**Review please?**


	12. Chapter 11

**Gyahh, huge wait I know, I'm sorry. By the way this is the last of the flashback chapters and starting next chapter we'll be going back to the main story. I've also posted a link to my livejournal account in my profile. I'm most likely going to post warning of when chapters for my fic's will be updated an such. I also am probably going to be uploading some art there every now and then. The stories though, will not be posted in my journal unless someone requests for it. Thats All!**

**disclaimer: there is a reason its called fanfiction**

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**Chapter 11**

The few days were a stress-filled blur. Arthur went through the process of learning the streets and such of Los Angeles along with the names of a few of the Syndicate's underlings. Then he had to run a background check on them and find out the clubs they went to and how it would be most advantageous for him to appear. All the while he would email or call Alfred to check up on how they were progressing on the case (and just to check up on Alfred and hear his voice but Arthur would never admit to that). He might as well contact him while he still could. It was only a matter of time until even contacting Chief Vargas would become a hassle.

It wasn't as hard as he had originally thought, Arthur always had a one-track mind when it came to certain things and work along with his little brother tended to always be pretty high on his priority list. By the end of the first week Arthur had found and made an appearance in one of the lackeys' favorite joints to pick up prostitutes. Lo and behold, after one night of sweaty limbs and time-honed experience on Arthur's part. The nameless lackey got what was probably the best sex he ever had, and was hooked. Arthur then carefully maneuvered his way up the ladder through the boy recommending Arthur (or England as he introduced himself) to his buddies and higher-ups. Tonight he was going to finally meet the "boss." Arthur was waiting for them to give him a ride to a secret location. Arthur looked at the cellphone in his hand. It was probably the last chance he would have to contact Alfred. He took a deep breath and dialed. As soon as he heard the American pick up the phone Arthur smiled. Why was it that this git could make him both relax and flustered at the same time. The two talked for a while until two ALICE Syndicate members arrived. Arthur obediently followed them into the car and let himself be blindfolded. They took his phone away and drove him off to their secret headquarters.

Now here he was, dressed in a silly Alice in Wonderland costume being 'offered up' to the boss of the syndicate (Though Arthur had to admit it was slightly more comfortable than the full leather costume he had gotten originally). The Englishman braced himself. It really all came down to this. If he could thoroughly convince the Boss and win his favor then the rest would be easy.

Arthur sat in his chair as the boss made his entrance. The man was big in just about every way and reaching middle age. He sneered at Arthur,

"I'm going to call you Alice, and you Alice, will call me 'King' at all times. Is that understood?" Arthur nodded demurely while holding back the insults and profanities he wanted to shout. He would have to grit his teeth and bear it. After all, he is British and it would take a lot more than this to take him down. He handled it once, he could do it again. Arthur got up and followed the man to his bedroom. The door closed behind him and Arthur swallowed. There was no looking back now.

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Arthur turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. Well, he had done it. After two weeks trial period, The Syndicate's leader was pleased with him and decided he would stay. Arthur slowly wrapped himself with a bathrobe and plodded his way out to the adjacent bedroom without bothering to dry himself off properly.

Arthur sighed, he rubbed his face tiredly with his hands as he unceremoniously plopped down onto the bed in the room that had been prepared for him. He carefully scanned his surroundings for any hidden devices. After assuring himself there were none, he took out a small watch from the pile of clothes he had been wearing. After fiddling with some of the buttons on the side he managed to make a holographic screen pop up along with a keypad. Arthur marveled at the device turning it this way and that inspecting the details. He had never been able to grasp technology the way Kiku could but that never meant he couldn't appreciate it. The device was still incomplete and right now could only take blurry pictures and send messages. Eduard and Kiku had yet to find a way to make it do more and keep it the size of a wristwatch. Arthur began to compose a new message to the Chief.

**I've managed to infiltrate the headquarters. The location should be around this area. The boss' name is Rutilis Rex Regis judging from what the other members call him, but that is most likely an assumed name.**

Arthur inserted the GPS coordinates the watch had displayed on the holographic screen only a few minutes ago. After clicking the send button Arthur laid down preparing to sleep. There would be much to do from now on.

The next morning Arthur got dressed and realized he did not have any clean clothing since he hadn't been provided with any other than various costumes the Syndicate leader had loaned him. Arthur shivered; he did not want to wear those for longer than he needed to; the humiliation was far too overpowering. The door opened and the man who brought him his food entered. He asked him if he could go back to his previous residence and go get some belongings. The man said that he would pass the message to his boss and tell him later. Arthur nodded slowly and began to eat the food. It really wasn't much more than a lump of bread and some cheese but it wasn't half bad. At least in Arthur's opinion. Suddenly the image of Francis and Alfred telling him he had no taste buds was conjured up in his head and Arthur scowled. There was nothing wrong with his taste buds thank-you-very-much. When the man came back to take the tray away he told Arthur that he would be allowed to go and get his belongings this evening. They would drop him off at a club where they would pick him up again at 6:15. Arthur nodded and the man left him to his privacy. Arthur lied back down and closed his eyes. The image of a sunny-blonde man popped into his head again and Arthur realized how much he missed the man. He knew he wouldn't be getting his phone back and quickly sent Alfred a message on the wristwatch for him to call him at the number of the club he would be picked up at. It would be less suspicious for him to pick up the phone than to actually make the call. His hand froze above the enter key, doing this would be a huge risk. After a moment's contemplation, he clicked send. Now all he had to do was wait.

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Arthur fidgeted nervously next to the public phone located outside the club. It neared the time he had asked Alfred to call. _3-2-1_... Arthur counted down in his head. The phone rang. He picked it up after three rings, enough time to compose himself.

"Hello?" he said in a voice that was thankfully much calmer than he was feeling.

"Hey Artie," Arthur blushed, Alfred sounded almost nervous, why would he be nervous? He quickly tried to think of something to say,

"Hello Alfred," he paused, "I-I'm glad you called," there was an awkward silence and Arthur cursed himself for not having something better to say. Lucky for him Alfred broke the silence,

"Of course I did! It wouldn't be heroic not to!" Arthur groaned out of reflex but inside he was very happy,

"Bloody hell, Alfred! Why must you always blather on about that?" he joked playfully smiling when Alfred merely laughed. "Anyways Alfred," there was silence; Arthur started to talk in a lower voice, fearful of anyone listening in. "I just wanted to check up on you," Arthur didn't know why he was suddenly so honest. Usually he would have made up some kind of excuse. At the silence from the other end Arthur got even more nervous "Are you even listening you git?" he shouted.

"What?" came the startled reaction. Arthur rolled his eyes, typical.

"So you weren't listening," Arthur was back to a low whisper, "I was saying that I might not be back as soon as I had hoped to be so; you'll just have to get along without me a bit longer. You are doing well right?" he was trying very hard to be honest. He knew that he didn't always leave the best of impressions.

"Don't worry about it! I couldn't be better without you breathing down my neck, Michelle is such a better partner!" Alfred replied cheerfully. It felt like something stabbed Arthur's heart,

"…I see," he sighed, he wouldn't be able to do this for much longer, "Well anyways that was really all I had to say—," he was cut off,

"Seriously Artie? You told me to call you this late at some weird number and now you're just going to hang up after checking up on me? I don't need constantly worried about me!" Arthur was shocked, he hadn't expected that. The sword that was thrust through his heart twisted mercilessly, Arthur could feel the tears build up in his eyes and he hastily wiped them with his sleeve, "…Fine you wanker, I guess I just shouldn't even go through the trouble of trying to check up on you. I hope you and Michelle have fun," Arthur managed to force out,

"Arthur, wait, I—," It seemed almost like Alfred was remorseful but Arthur knew better than to believe that,

"Just stop Alfred, I already know you don't need me, just leav-, Fuck—," He quickly hung up and calmed himself down, his ride was here. Arthur grabbed his bags and clambered into the car. He closed his eyes for once glad to be blindfolded hiding his red eyes from view. The the tears never left his eyes, he wouldn't risk possibly his only chance to save his brother, not again. Not for someone who didn't even care.

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That night when the Syndicate leader called him to his room Arthur went with a firery determination. He would try to squeeze out as much information as possible. But he didn't realize how that would effect his safety. After the much older man regained his senses he interrogated Arthur. Apparently Arthur's "playful curiosity," as it was dubbed, on his background was suspicious. Arthur smoothly talked his way out of it and when he arrived back at his room he collapsed. After breathing heavily for a few moments he pulled himself up. That had been the closest he's ever been to being found out. There wasn't much time left until his entire story crumbles. Quickly, he sent Chief Vargas a message with all the new info. He also sent a plea for them to work faster, he wasn't sure how much longer he could last. Absolutely taxed both emotionally and physically, Arthur fell into a fitful slumber.

After only a few days Arthur got a message from the Chief. They had found a cure. Arthur practically jumped with joy. His brother would be okay.

The day after thee was a message saying that they were in the midst of the plans for storming the Syndicate headquarters. Arthur's detailed description of the area would make it much easier than they had originally thought. He would also be sending Francis and Charles to pick up Arthur beforehand so no one found out about him. Arthur held the wristwatch to his forehead and closed his eyes. He could feel relief wash over him. Just a little longer, he repeated in his head like a mantra, even if he was being ruthlessly invaded by the Syndicate leader, that one phrase would be enough to keep him going. Arthur closed his eyes and let his mind relax, Just a little more.

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**Sorry about the (very) possible errors, I didn't have time to edit. Please review!**


	13. Chapter 12

**Yay! another chapter finished! Thank you so much for the reviews guys! Its because of them I get motivated to write! Uhh.. just a warning any ability i did have in writing just died on my in the last few days (Insomnia is really bad for me). So be wary of lots of bad grammar, spelling, and the likes.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own**

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Chapter 12

Arthur started to panic, why was Alfred here? Wasn't only Francis and Charles supposed to get him out? This had to be just a dream right. While Arthur's brain busily tried to overcome the massive load of information and questions filtering through his head at that moment Alfred stared at his now conscious friend and secret crush.

It was a huge relief to Alfred to see Arthur awake and looking for the most part fine. But now as the worry he had slowly trickled away his other emotions began to take over, most prominent, hurt.

"Why were you there Arthur? Why didn't you tell me?" he asked softly. Arthur swallowed; he didn't want this to happen, what would Alfred think of him now? He looked away from the pained cerulean eyes.

"I can't tell you that Alfred. It's not something you should know,"

Alfred grew irritated at the statement, why couldn't he know? He had been denied the truth for so long and now the man he cared about the most won't even give him a fucking clue. He took deep breaths, in and out, in and out.

"Please, will you at least tell me why you did this? You could have said no!" Arthur bit his lip; he had his reasons for accepting the job even though he didn't want to. He just wasn't sure if he was willing to tell Alfred those reasons. There was only so much he was willing to say. Arthur swallowed,

"I'm sorry Alfred, I can't tell you anything, it isn't any of your business," Alfred could feel his heart throb painfully at the sharp words. But the hurt was quickly masked with silent anger. Putting on a steely gaze he looked at the Englishman,

"Fine, I get it Arthur, you don't need me, but you know what? I don't need you either," green eyes widened in surprise,

"N-no! That wasn't what I meant!" his hand grasped the man's jacket preventing him from getting up,

"Oh? So what did you mean?"

"I-I just, I can't say it, I'm,"

"It's fine Arthur, I'll leave you to yourself," with that the taller male slipped away and stepped outside, "I'm going for a walk, see you later," his face lacked emotion and his voice was kept carefully calm. Arthur watched the door softly click shut and then buried his face in the sheets. How could he ever explain to Alfred? Arthur sobbed, he wished he could gather the courage to tell him everything, including his past, but the lingering voice in his head that pointed out the possibility of Alfred wanting nothing to do with someone so tainted, had kept his mouth shut. He above all others did not want the American to hate him. Alfred was the only person in the world Arthur felt could make him shatter to pieces with a few simple words. After all, this kind of thing had happened before wasn't it the reason Peter had turned his back to him so long ago? But it didn't matter anymore, for surely Alfred hated him already, didn't he make it perfectly clear just moments ago they were just former partners and nothing else?

Arthur looked up towards the hotel room's telephone. Maybe this might be for the best. He couldn't possibly drag Alfred down with him. He remembered Gabriel telling him the last time he called that his offer for Arthur to start over again with him in Portugal was still open. Arthur smiled, Gabriel was told of his past through Arthur getting drunk and spilling everything to his friend. Luckily it had worked out fine. Maybe it was time for the green-eyed man to do as he suggested and leave behind his past and just start over. He knew he was really just running away again, but he was truly tired of everything. This case had shown him that no matter how hard he had tried to get away from the past it really was impossible as long as he was still here. He picked up the phone and dialed the number of Julius Vargas' cell phone.

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Julius Vargas smirked as he watched on the multiple screens as the infiltration proceeded. Everything was going smoothly and according to plan. The boss was currently on his way to New York to be confined and questioned; Francis and Charles were taking care of that. The large organization easily crumbled away. A sudden vibration from his pocket dragged him out of his musing. He picked it up,

"Hello?"

"Vargas, I'm resigning," well this wasn't too surprising. Julius had a suspicion that after this case Arthur would probably be leaving,

"Fine, pick up your things tomorrow when everything wraps up,"

"Wait, you're letting me leave?"

"Yes Arthur, were you expecting me to use some kind of underhanded tactic to stop you?"

"…" Julius chuckled,

"Let me guess, you'll be going to Portugal,"

"…Yes sir,"

"That's good; you deserve a good life,"

"Sir?" the older man sighed,

"I understand what I did for this case was very wrong Arthur, and I did account for the possibility of at least you leaving Team Hetalia," and Francis too probably, thought Julius offhandedly, "Is Alfred there with you right now?"

"No, why was Alfred with Francis and Charles in the first place?" the Italian sighed again,

"It wasn't part of the plan if you were wondering. He must have overheard something and decided to tag along, I only saw him on the monitors after it was too late,"

"I see,"

"I'll be sending someone over to take you to the airport within the next five minutes. You'll have all of tomorrow to get everything from your apartment; I wish you a happy life,"

"Thank you sir," and he hung up. Chief Vargas' lips twitched up into a small smile. How ironic, he was the one who should be thanking Arthur.

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Alfred sighed, it had been less than a minute and he already wanted to go back to Arthur. He wanted to apologize but at the same time he felt that he didn't need to. After all, it wasn't completely his fault was it?

"What am I doing?" he whispered to no one in particular. He had said he would be Arthur's hero and here he was just making everything worse. Why couldn't he ever say what he really felt in front of Arthur? He stood in front of the building only a few yards from the room Arthur was in. He loved Arthur, that was the truth, but Arthur obviously couldn't even trust him enough to explain. Alfred somberly walked into the lobby. Maybe he would just get a room for the night and then talk to Arthur in the morning. Yes then maybe they could both be honest with each other and he would be able apologize.

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Francis looked at the murky sky from the plane's window. It would still be a few more hours until they would be reaching New York. The sound of their captive screaming something about how lucky everyone was to be able to reach the land his ancestor made echoed around the plane then there was suddenly silence. Charles must have given him some sort of sedative. As Francis stared at the sky outside he thought about the events that happened in the past few weeks.

Arthur has probably resigned by now he mused. He knew his friend well enough to know his limits and this case definitely pushed him too far. He didn't know all the details but the Frenchman could make an educated guess on how Arthur was roped into his role in the first place. Francis wondered if he should also resign then decided against it. Even though he wanted to keep a close eye on Arthur after what happened the last time he left him alone he knew that Gabriel could be trusted to do the job. Arthur deserved to get away, from everyone and everything. Francis sighed; he only wished Arthur and Alfred might have resolved their sexual tension before anything like this had to happen.

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**Review please!**


	14. Chapter 13

**I know, I know, this is terribly late. I've just been really busy lately and any ability i had to write has been leaving me lately. Thanks for everyone who's read/reviewed/followed/favorited! Special thanks to ilfreitas for helping me in created Portugal both the country and the character. Next chapter will most likely be taking place completely in Portugal if all goes to plan. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: don't own anything**

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Chapter 13

The next morning Alfred stood in front of the door to Arthur's room reciting in his head what he was going to say.

"Um, Arthur about yesterday, I didn't mean what I said. I …really care about you and…" His mind went totally blank at that point like it always did. "Argh!" he shouted and threw up his hands in exasperation. Why was this so hard? Why was he doing this anyways? He was the hero and heroes did not stand stupidly outside their crush's door thinking of what to say. Alfred clenched his fists nervously. He was just going to walk in and talk to Arthur. That seemed like the best plan. As he was just about to know the cleaning lady came by with her cart, stopped next to him, took out her keys, and entered Arthur's room with her cleaning supplies.

"Huh?" Alfred stood there not entirely sure of what just happened. If the cleaning lady went in, didn't that mean that Arthur wasn't there anymore? In a slight panic Alfred rushed to the front desk to ask if Arthur had already checked out of the room. Apparently last night he and someone else checked out and were headed to the airport judging from the tickets that were stuffed hastily in the Englishman's pockets. The receptionist was positive it was Arthur he saw since not many people check out of a motel in the middle of the night. Alfred felt his heart plummet. Why was Arthur gone and with a plane ticket of all things? He scrambled around in his pockets to find his phone and quickly punched in Arthur's speed-dial number. No answer. Alfred then realized that Arthur probably didn't even have his cellphone and probably had it taken away a long time ago. Cursing he punched in Chief Vargas's phone number and waited for the man to pick up.

"Hello?" came the answer finally,

"Chief, it's Alfred here and I've been wondering,"

"Ah, Alfred! I was just about to call you! From now on your partner is Michelle,"

"Wait, what did you say?"

"Arthur quit last night. He's probably on a plane to Portugal right now,"

"What? Why?"

"This and that, nothing to talk about really, oh and by the way you can start heading back to New York now since we're just about finished over here. The regular law enforcement can handle it from here. I think by now Francis and Charles would like some company back in New York," he replied in the most infuriatingly offhanded fashion, and then proceeded to hang up without further notice. Alfred looked at the phone like it had committed some sort unspeakable sin. None of the questions had been answered and only more came. He quickly grabbed his few belongings from his room and checked out of the room.

Alfred practically sprinted to the airport and bought a ticket to New York. Both Francis and Charles must know something if they were the ones that were chosen to rescue Arthur, and he was going to both get some answers and Arthur back even if it meant having to chase Arthur down all the way on the other side of the ocean.

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Arthur looked out at the clouds that were whizzing by. He had called Gabriel to tell him he would be coming and now there were only a few more hours until he would arrive at Porto where Gabriel would pick him up to take to Aveiro. Arthur smiled. Gabriel had taken over his father's shipbuilding company. The two had always loved the seas and Gabriel always did seem so much more suited for building ships than being a special agent no matter how good he may have been as one. He closed his eyes and relaxed. A sudden pang of regret overtook him and instantly his eyes flew open again.

"I'm sorry Alfred, I love you," the whisper faded into the silence unheard.

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Alfred had finally arrived back at New York. He quickly hailed a taxi and headed toward the station. Inside was Francis calmly flipping through few papers and drinking a glass of wine. Alfred made his way over and slammed his hands on the Frenchman's desk,

"Why did Arthur leave?" Francis looked up at his interrogator,

"Alfred it's not polite interrogate someone without even greeting them," Alfred sighed,

"Fine, you are now being graced by my heroic presence which is very, uh, glad to see you. Now can you answer my question?" Francis smirked,

"I am not allowed to tell you the reason, are you sure you don't already know?" Alfred's silence confirmed the answer.

"I know it has something to do with his past but I'm not sure what that really has to do with anything,"

"I'm not allowed out any information Alfred. If you want to know what happened to Arthur then you'll have to find him and ask him yourself," with this Francis pushed a booklet towards Alfred, got up, and left. The American looked at the booklet that was handed to him. It was an atlas that had been bookmarked on the page of west Europe and the city of Aveiro, Portugal was carefully circled in red ink. Alfred grinned; He was going to Portugal.

As the American walked out Francis walked back in. Thank goodness he still kept some kind of contact with Gabriel or he wouldn't have been able to pull that stunt. Leaning back in his chair Francis held his glass of wine up with a soft smile,

"To those two idiots," there may be some chance getting those together after all.

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Arthur stepped out of the baggage claim area and scanned the crowd of people in the airport. A sign with his name caught his eye. He smiled as he walked over to his old friend. The man was slightly taller than him with dark brown hair and deep blue eyes.

"Bom vê-lo Arthur," he greeted,

"It's good to see you too Gabriel," Arthur meant it too. As he followed Gabriel to his car Arthur really hoped he had made the right decision.

"I can't wait to show you some of the ships I've been designing. Granted they most likely won't ever be built but I think you'll still like them anyways," Arthur nodded. There were whole crews of designers for Gabriel's company but the man always had a passion for creating designs himself. Arthur remembered once he had given him a replica of an old English pirate ship in a bottle for his Birthday. Even Alfred had thought it was pretty cool when he showed it to him. He had looked so cute when his eyes were shining like that. Arthur smacked himself in the head. Why was he still thinking about Alfred? Didn't he leave so he could just stop thinking?

"Arthur, are you still listening to me?" Arthur snapped out of his thoughts,

"Ah, terribly sorry Gabe, I must be tired from the flight," his friend gave him a pat on the back with the hand that wasn't on the wheel,

"Go ahead and sleep for a while, we'll have plenty of time to talk later," grateful for his friend's understanding Arthur closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep.

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